1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



©|itjt iu|n|ng|lju. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/footprintsoftrav01ball 




CAPTAIN COOK, THE DISCOVERER. 



FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; 



OR, 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 



BY ^ r \ 






MATURIN M.^BALLOU. 



^f 



t^-'' 



Armado. How hast thou purchased this experience? 



'^yC *'" Moth. By my journey of observation. — SHAKESPEARE. 



BOSTON, U.S.A.: 

PUBLISHED BY GINN & COMPANY. 

1889. 



/ 

v 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1888, by 

GINN & COMPANY, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



All Rights Reserved. 



. r^- 



Typography by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 
Presswork by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



PREFACE. 



In these notes of foreign travel the object has been to 
cover a broad field without making a cumbersome volume, 
to do which, conciseness has necessarily been observed. 
In previous books the author has described much more in 
detail some of the countries here briefly spoken of. The 
volumes referred to are " Due-West ; or, Round the World 
in Ten Months," and "Due-South; or, Cuba Past and 
Present," which were published by Houghton, Mifflin & 
Co., of Boston. Two other volumes, namely, " Due-North ; 
or, Glimpses of Scandinavia and Russia," and "Under the 
Southern Cross ; or, Travels in Australia and New Zea- 
land," were issued by Ticknor & Co., of the same city. 
By the kind permission of both publishers, the author has 
felt at liberty to use his original notes in the preparation 
of these pages. It should be understood, however, that 
about one-half of the countries through which the reader 
is conducted in the present work are not mentioned in 
the volumes above referred to. The purpose has been to 



iv PREFACE. 

prepare a series of chapters adapted for youth, which, 
while affording pleasing entertainment, should also impart 
valuable information. The free use of good maps while 
reading these Foot-prints of Travel, will be of great 
advantage, increasing the student's interest and also im- 
pressing upon his mind a degree of geographical knowl- 
edge which could not in any other way be so easily or 
f 

pleasantly acquired. 

*^ M. M. B. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Crossing the American Continent. — Niagara Falls. — Utah. — Represen- 
tatives of Native Indian Tribes. — City of San Francisco. — Sea 
Lions. — The Yosemite Valley. — An Indian Hiding-Place. — The 
Mariposa Grove of Big Trees. — Chinatown in San Francisco. — 
Through the Golden Gate; — Navigating the Pacific — Products of 
the Ocean. — Sea Gulls. — Harbor and City of Honolulu , , , , I 

CHAPTER II. 

Discoveries of Captain Cook. — Vegetation. — Hawaiian Women on 
Horse-back. — The Nuuanu Valley. — The Native Staff of Life. — 
The Several Islands of the Group. — Resident Chinamen. — Raising 
Sugar-Cane. — On the Ocean. — Yokohama, Japan. — Habits of the 
People. — A Remarkable Idol. — Tokio, the Political Capital. — The 
Famous Inland Sea of Japan. — Nagasaki. — Products and Progress 
of Japan i6 

CHAPTER III. 

Through the Yellow and Chinese Seas.— Hong Kong. — Peculiarities of 
the Chinese at Home. — Native Women. — City of Canton. — Charita- 
ble Organizations. — Chinese Culture. — National Characteristics. — 
Sail for Singapore. — A Water-spout. — A Tropical Island. — Local 
Pen-Pictures. — The Island of Penang. — An Indolent Native Race. 
— The Cocoanut Tree. — Palm Wine. — Tropical Fruits , , , . 32 

CHAPTER IV. 

Crossing the Indian Ocean.— The Island of Ceylon. — Harbor of Colom- 
bo. — The Equatorial Forest. — Native Costumes. — Vegetation of 
Ceylon. — Prehistoric Monuments. — Departure for AustraUa. — The 



Vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Stars at Sea. — The Great Island-Continent. — The Gold Product. 

— Divisions of the Country. — City of Adelaide. — Public Garden. 

— West Australia. — Melbourne, Capital of Victoria. — Street 
Scenes. — Chinese Quarter 44 

CHAPTER V. 

Gold-fields of Australia. — Kangaroos. — Big Gum Trees. — Largest 
Trees in the World. — Wild BirH Life. — Gold-seeking. — City of 
Sydney. — Botanical Garden. — Public Institutions. — Sheep-raising. 

— Brisbane, Capital of Queensland. — The Aboriginal Race. — Native 
Legends. — The Boomerang. — Island of Tasmania. — How named. 

— Launceston. — Hobart, the Capital. — Local Scenes. — A Pros- 
perous Country 62 

CHAPTER VI. 

Embark for New Zealand. — The Albatross. — Experiments with Sea 
Water. — • Oil upon the Waves. — Geography of New Zealand. — 
Mineral Wealth. — City of Dunedin. — Public Schools. — Native 
Cannibals. — Christchurch. — A Wonderful Bird. — Wellington, 
Capital of New Zealand. — Habits of the Natives. — The Race of 
Maori Indians. — Liability to Earthquakes. — A Submerged Volcano 
in Cook's Strait . 81 

CHAPTER VII. 

City of Auckland, New Zealand. — A Land of Volcanoes. — Suburbs of 
the Northern Metropolis. — The Kauri-Tree. — Native Flowers. — 
The Hot Lake District. — A New Zealand Forest. — A Vegetable 
Boa-constrictor. — Sulphureous Hot Springs. — Fiery Caldrons. — 
Indian town of Ohinemutu. — Typical Home of the Natives. — Ma- 
ori Manners and Customs. — The Favorable Position of New Zealand. 

— Its Probable Future > < - • 91 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Arrival in India. — Insect and Reptile Life. — Madura. — City of Trichi- 
nopoly. — Car of Juggernaut. — Temple of Tanjore. — Travelling in 
India. — Madras. -^ Street Dancing Girls. — Arrival at Calcutta. — 
Cremating the Dead. — A Fashionable Driveway. — The Himalayan 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Mountains. — Apex of the Globe. — Tea Gardens of India. — A 
Wretched Peasantry. — Ancient Ruins. — City of Benares. — Worship 
of Animals. — Cawnpore, — Delhi. — Agra. — A Splendid Tomb . .105 



CHAPTER IX. 

Native City of Jeypore. — Poppy and Opium-raising. — Bombay. — The 
Parsees. — The Towers of Silence. — Historical View of India. — 
Voyage to the Red Sea. — Cairo, Capital of Egypt. — Local Scenes. — 
The Turkish Bazaars. — Pyramids of Gizeh. — The Sphinx. — The 
Desert. — Egypt, Past and Present. — Voyage to Malta. — City of 
Valetta. — Church of St. John. — Gibraltar. — View from the Signal 
Nation. — English Outposts 122 

CHAPTER X. 

Tangier, Capital of Morocco. — An Oriental City. — Slave Market. — 
Characteristic Street Scenes. — Malaga, Spain. — A Neglected Coun- 
try. — Grenada. — The Alhambra. — The Banished Moors. — Cor- 
dova and its Cathedral-Mosque. — Madrid, Capital of Spain. — Museo 
Art Gallery. — Sunday in the Metropolis. — Toledo. — The Escurial. 
— Burgos. — San Sebastian. — Bayonne. — Spain, Past and Present. — 
Bordeaux. — Rural Scenery in France 141 

CHAPTER XI. 

^ P„. - Su„a., i„ .,., P„„c. C,p>.,. -THe F,o.„ Ma*e,. - 
Notre Dame. — The Morgue. — Pere la Chaise. — The Story of Joan 
of Arc. — Educational Advantages. — City of Lyons. — Marseilles. — 
Nice. — Cimies. — Mentone. — The Principality of Monaco. — A 
Gambling Resort. — Mediterranean Scenes. — Over the Corniche 
Road. — City of Genoa. — Marble Palaces. — Italian Navigation. — 
The Campo Santo or Burial Ground 164 

CHAPTER XII. 

Port of Leghorn. — Ancient City of Pisa. — Remarkable Monuments. — 
The Bay of Naples. — Neapolitan Beggars. — A Favorite Drive. — 
Out-of-door Life. — Vesuvius. — Art Treasures of the Museum. — 
Pompeii. — Envirbns of Naples. — Rome, the " Eternal City." — Lo- 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

cal Scenes. — Artists' Models. — Favorite Promenade. — The Colis- 

seum. St. Peter's. — Florence and its Environs. — Art Treasures. 

— Home of Dante and Michael Angelo i8l 



CHAPTER XHI. 

Venice.— The Gondola. — On the Grand Canal.— Venetian History.— 
Piazza of St. Mark. — Cathedral of San Marco.— The Campanile. — 
Academy of Fine Arts. — Doge's Palace. — Tombs of Titian and 
Canova. — Milan. — The Wonderful Cathedral. — Original Picture of 
the Last Supper. — Olden City of Pavia. — Innspruck, Capital of the 
Xyi.ol. — Among the Alps. — Salzburg, Birthplace of Mozart. — 
Industries of German Women 200 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Vienna, the Northern Paris. — Art Galleries and Museum. — Prague, Capi- 
tal of Bohemia. — Ancient Dungeons. — Historic Mention. — Dres- 
den, Capital of Saxony.— The Green Vaults. — Berlin, Capital of 
Prussia. — Hamburg. — Copenhagen, Capital of Denmark. — The 
Baltic Sea. — Danish Progress. — Thorwaldsen. — Educational.— 
Palace of Rosenborg. —The Round Tower. — Elsinore and Shake- 
speare's Hamlet ^'5 

CHAPTER XV. 

Gottenburg, Sweden. — Intelligence of the People. — The Gotha Canal. 

— Trollhatta Falls. — Christiania, Capital of Norway. — Legal Code. 

— Public Buildings. — Ancient Viking Ship. — Brief Summers.— 
Swedish Women in the Field. — Flowers in Arctic Regions.— Nor 
wegian Lakes. — Animals of the North. —Mountains and Glaciers. 

— A Land of Fjords, Cascades, and Lakes. — Dwellings situated like 
Eagles' Nests ^33 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Bergen, Norway. — Local Products and Scenes. — Environs of Bergen. — 
The Angler's Paradise. — Trondhjem. — Story of King Olaf.— A 
Cruel Imprisonment. — Journey Northward. — Night turned into 
Day. — Coast of Norway. — Education. — The Arctic Circle. -— 



CONTENTS. IX 

PAGE 

Bodoe. — The Lofoden Islands. — The Maelstrom. — Hardy Arctic 
Fishermen. — The Polar Sea. — Varied Attractions of Norway to 
Travellers and Artists 247 

CHAPTER XVn. 

Peculiar Sleeplessness. — Tromsoe. — The Aurora Borealis. — Short- 
lived Summer. — Flowers. — Trees. — Laplanders and their Posses- 
sions. — Reindeers. — Customs of the Lapps. — Search for Whales. — 
Arctic Birds. — Influence of the Gulf Stream. — Hammerfest. — -The 
Far North Cape and the Polar Ocean. — The Midnight Sun. — Stock- 
holm, Capital of Sweden. — Royal Palace. — Historic Upsala. — 
Linnseus, the Naturalist. — Crossing the Baltic and Gulf of Finland . 261 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Abo. — Helsingfors, Capital of Finland. — Remarkable Fortress of Swea- 
borg. — Fortifications of Cronstadt. — Up the Neva to St. Peters- 
burg. — Grandest City of Northern Europe. — Street Scenes in Rus- 
sia. — Occupations of the Sabbath. — The Drosky. — Royal Palaces 
of the Tzar. — Noble Art Gallery. — Celebrated Library. — Public 
Monuments. — Winter Season 275 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Palace of Petershoff. — Peter the Great. — Religious Denominations. — 
On the Way to Moscow. — Through the F'orests. — City of Tver. 

— The Volga. — Water-ways of Russia. — Picturesque Moscow. — 
The Kremlin. — Churches. — Cathedral of St. Basil. — Treasury of 
the Kremlin. — Royal Robes and Crowns. — A Page from History. — 
University of Moscow. — Sacred Pigeons. — Prevalence of Beggary 

in the Oriental Capital 288 

CHAPTER XX. 

Nijni-Novgorod. — Valley of the Volga. — One of the Great Rivers of the 
World. — Famous Annual Fair-Ground. — Variety of Merchandise. 

— A Conglomerate of Races. — A Large Temporary City. — From 
Moscow to Warsaw. — Wolves. — The Granary of Europe. — Polish 
Peasants. — City of Warsaw. — Topography of the Capital. — Royal 
Residences. — Botanical Gardens. — Political Condition of Poland. — 
Commercial Prosperity. — Shameful Despotism 298 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

PAGE 

Munich, Capital of Bavaria. — Trying Employments of the Women. — A 
Beer-Drinking Community. — Frankfort- on- the- Main. — Luther's 
Home. — Goethe's Birthplace. — Cologne on the Rhine. — The 
Grand Cathedral.- — -Antwerp, Belgium. — RuTiens' Burial Place. — 
Art Treasures in the Cathedral. — Switzerland. — Bale. — Lau- 
sanne. — Geneva. — Lake Leman. — Vevay. — Berne, Capital of 
Switzerland. — Lucerne. — Zurich. — Schaffhausen , 310 

CHAPTER XXn. 

London, the Metropolis of the World. — Some of its Institutions. — The 
Tower of London. — Statistics of the Great City. — Ancient Chester. 
— Rural England. — Stratford-on-Avon. — Edinburgh, Scotland. — 
Remarkable Monuments. — Abbotsford. — Rural Scotland. — Glas- 
gow. — Greenock. — Across the Irish Sea to Belfast. — Queen's Col- 
lege. — Dublin, the Capital of Ireland. — Grand Public Buildings. . 321 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Nassau, New Providence. — Trees, Flowers, and Fruits. — Curious Sea 
Gardens. — The Finny Tribes. — Fresh Water Supply. — Tropical 
Skies. — The Gulf Stream. — Santiago de Cuba. — Cienfuegos. — 
Sugar Plantations. — Cuban Fruits. — Peculiarities of the Banana. — 
A Journey across the Island to Matanzas. — Inland Experiences. — 
Characteristic Scenes. — The Royal Palm . 334 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Discovery of Cuba by Columbus. — The Native Race. — Historical Mat- 
ters. — Headquarters of Spanish Military Operations in the West. — 
Invasion of Mexico by Cortez. — African Slave Trade. — Peculiarities 
of the Caribbean Sea. — Geography of the Island of Cuba. — City of 
Matanzas. — Havana, the Capital. — The Alameda. — The Cathe- 
dral. — Military Mass. — A Wonderfully Fertile Island. — Reflections. 349 



FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE title of the book in hand is sufficiently expressive 
of its purpose. We shall follow the course of the 
sun, but diverge wherever the peculiarities of different 
countries prove attractive. As the author will conduct his 
readers only among scenes and over routes which he himself 
has travelled, it is hoped that he may be able to impart a 
portion of the enjoyment experienced, and the knowledge 
gained in many foreign lands and on many distant seas. 

Starting from the city of Boston by railway, we pass 
at express speed through the length of Massachusetts 
from east to west, until we arrive at Hoosac, where the 
famous tunnel of that name is situated. This remarkable 
excavation, five miles in length, was cut through the solid 
rock of Hoosac Mountain to facilitate transportation be- 
tween Boston and the West, at a cost of twenty years of 
labor and sixteen millions of dollars ; a sum, which, were 
it divided, would amount to over five dollars per head for 
every man, woman, and child in the State. 



2 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

By a continuous day's journey from Boston, we reach 
Niagara late at night. The best view of the falls, which 
form the grandest cataract on the globe, is to be enjoyed 
from the Canada side of the Niagara River. In the midst 
of the falls is Goat Island, dividing them into two un- 
equal parts, one of which forms the American, and the 
other the Horse Shoe Fall, so called from its shape, 
which is on the Canada side. As we gaze upon this re- 
markable exhibition of natural force, a column of vapor 
rises two hundred feet above the avalanche of waters, 
white as snow where it is absorbed into the skies, the base 
being wreathed with perpetual rainbows. A canal, start- 
ing from a convenient point above the falls and extending 
to a point below the rapids, utilizes for mill purposes an 
infinitesimal portion of the enormous power which is run- 
ning to waste, night and day, just as it has been doing for 
hundreds of years. It is well known that many centuries 
ago these falls were six miles nearer to Lake Ontario than 
they now are, making it evident that a steady wearing 
away of the rock and soil is all the time progressing. The 
inference seems to be plain enough. After the lapse of 
ages these mammoth falls may have receded so far as to 
open with one terrific plunge the eastern end of Lake Erie. 
Long before the Falls are reached we hear the mighty 
roar which made the Indians call the cataract Niagara, 
or " the thunder of the waters." On leaving here, we 
cross the river by a suspension bridge, which, from a short 
distance, looks like a mere spider's web. Over this the 
x:ars move slowly, affording a superb view of the Falls and 
of the awful chasm below. 

But let us not dwell too long upon so familiar a theme. 
After a day and night in the cars, travelling westward, Chi- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 3 

cago, the capital of Illinois, is reached. About sixty years 
ago a scattered tribe of the Pottawatomies inhabited the 
spot on the shore of Lake Michigan, where is now situated 
the most important capital of the North Western States. 
In 1837 the city was formed with less than five thousand- 
inhabitants ; at this writing it has nearly a million. Such 
rapid growth has no parallel in America or elsewhere. 
This commercial increase is the natural result of its situa- 
tion at the head of the great chain of lakes. In size it is 
a little over seven miles in length by five in width, giving 
it an area of about forty square miles. The city is now 
the centre of a railroad system embracing fifteen important 
trunk lines, forming the largest grain, lumber, and live- 
stock market in the world. One hundred and sixty mil- 
lion bushels of grain have passed through its elevators in 
a twelvemonth. 

On our way westward, we stop for a day at Salt Lake 
City, the capital of Utah, some sixteen hundred miles from 
Chicago. The site of the present town was an unbroken 
wilderness so late as 1838, but it now boasts a population of 
twenty-six thousand souls. The peculiar people who have 
established themselves here, have by industry and a com- 
plete system of irrigation, brought the entire valley to a 
degree of fertility unsurpassed by the same number of 
square miles on this continent. It is not within our 
province to discuss the domestic life of the Mormons. No 
portrait of them, however, will prove a likeness which does 
not clearly depict their twofold features ; namely, their 
thrift and their iniquity. Contact with a truer condition 
of civilization, and the enforcement of United States laws, 
are slowly, but it is believed surely, reducing the numbers 
of the self-entitled "saints." Mormon missionaries, how- 



4 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ever, still seek to make proselytes in France, Norway, 
Sweden, and Great Britain, addressing themselves always 
to the most ignorant classes. These poor half-starved 
creatures are helped to emigrate, believing that they are 
coming to a land flowing with milk and honey. In most 
cases any change with them would be for their advantage ; 
and so the ranks of Mormonism are recruited, not from 
any truly religious impulse in the new disciples, but 
through a desire to better their physical condition. 

From Utah, two days and a night passed in the cars will 
take us over the six hundred intervening miles to San 
Francisco. The route passes through the Sierra Nevada 
Mountains, presenting scenery which recalls the grand 
gorges and snow-clad peaks of Switzerland and Norway, 
characterized by deep canyons, lofty wooded elevations, 
and precipitous declivities. At the several railway stations 
specimens of the native Shoshones, Piutes, and other tribes 
of Indians are seen lazily sunning themselves in pictur- 
esque groups. The men are dirty and uncouth examples 
of humanity, besmeared with yellow ochre and vermilion ; 
their dress consisting of loose flannel blankets and deer- 
skin leggings, their rude hats decked with eagle feathers. 
The women are wrapped in striped blankets and wear red 
flannel leggings, both sexes being furnished with buckskin 
moccasins. The women are fond, of cheap ornaments, col- 
ored glass beads, and brass ear-rings. About every other 
one has a baby strapped to her back in a flat basket. Men 
and squaws wear their coarse jet-black hair in long, untidy 
locks, hanging over their bronzed necks and faces. War, 
whiskey, and want of proper food are gradually blotting out 
the aboriginal tribes of America. 

San Francisco, less than forty years of age, is the com- 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 5 

mercial metropolis of California, which State, if it lay upon 
the Atlantic coast, would extend from Massachusetts to 
South Carolina. It covers a territory five times as large 
as the whole of the New England States combined, possess- 
ing, especially in its southern division, a climate presenting 
most of the advantages of the tropics with but few of the 
objections which appertain to the low latitudes. The 
population of San Francisco already reaches an aggregate 
of nearly four hundred thousand. Owing its first popular 
attraction to the discovery of gold within its borders, in 
1849, California has long since developed an agricultural 
capacity exceeding the value of its mineral productions. 
The future promise and possibilities of its trade and com- 
merce defy calculation. 

The Cliff House, situated four or five miles from the 
centre of the city, is a favorite pleasure resort of the popu- 
lation. It stands on a bluff of the Pacific shore, affording 
an ocean view limited only by the power of the human 
vision. As we look due west from this spot, no land inter- 
venes between us and the far-away shore of Japan. Oppo- 
site the Cliff House, three hundred yards from the shore, 
there rises abruptly out of the sea, from a depth of many 
fathoms, a rough, precipitous rock, sixty or seventy feet in 
height, presenting about an acre of surface. Sea-lions 
come out of the water in large numbers to sun themselves 
upon this rock, affording an amusing sight from the shore. 
These animals are of all sizes, according to age, weighing 
from fifty to one thousand pounds, and possessing sufficient 
muscular power to enable them to climb the rock, where a 
hundred are often seen at a time. The half roar, half bark 
peculiar to these creatures, sounds harsh upon the ear of 
the listeners at the Cliff. The law of the State protects 



6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

them from molestation, but they quarrel furiously among 
themselves. The sea-lion belongs to the seal family and is 
the largest of its species. 

A week can hardly be more profitably occupied upon our 
route than by visiting the Yosemite Valley, where the 
grandeur of the Alpine scenery is unsurpassed, and where 
there are forests which produce giant trees of over three 
hundred feet in height and over thirty in diameter. The 
ascent of the mountain which forms the barrier to the val- 
ley, commences at a place called Clark's, the name of the 
person who keeps the hotel, and which is the only dwelling- 
house in the neighborhood. The stage is drawn upwards 
over a precipitous, winding road, by relays of six stout 
horses, to an elevation of seven thousand feet, leaving 
behind nearly all signs of human habitation. A mournful 
air of loneliness surrounds us as we creep slowly towards 
the summit ; but how grand and inspiring are the views 
which are seen from the various points ! One falls to 
analyzing the natural architecture of these mountain peaks, 
gulches, and cliffs, fancy making out at times well-defined 
Roman circuses ; again, castellated crags come into view, 
resembling half-ruined castles -on the Rhine ; other crags 
are like Turkish minarets, while some rocky ranges are 
dome-capped like St. Peter's at Rome. Far below them 
all we catch glimpses of dark ravines of unknown depths, 
where lonely mist-wreaths rest like snow-drifts. 

Nestling beside the roadway, there are seen here and 
there pale wild-flowers surrounded by vigorous ferns and 
creeping vines, showing that even here, in these lofty 
and deserted regions, Nature has her poetic moods. Birds 
almost entirely disappear at these altitudes, preferring the 
more genial atmosphere of the plains, though now and 



fe:- 



il2 

Page 7 



mi£ _ 




MIRROR LAKE, YOSEMITE VALLEY, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 7 

again an eagle, with broad spread pinions, is seen to 
swoop gracefully from the top of some lonely pine, and 
sail with unmoving wings far away across the depth of the 
valley until hidden by the windings of the gorge. Even 
the presence of this proud and kingly bird but serves to 
emphasize the loneliness of these silent heights. 

By and by the ' loftiest portion of the road is reached at 
what is known as Inspiration Point, whence a comprehen- 
sive view is afforded of the far-famed valley. Though we 
stand here at an elevation of over seven thousand feet 
above the plains so lately crossed, still the Yosemite Val- 
ley, into which we are gazing with awe and admiration, is 
but about three thousand five hundred feet below us. It 
runs east and west, appearing quite contracted from this 
great height, but is eight miles long by over one in width. 
On either side rise vertical cliffs of granite, varying from 
three to four thousand feet in height, several of the lofty 
gorges discharging narrow but strikingly beautiful and 
transparent water-falls. Upon descending into the valley, 
we find ourselves surrounded by precipitous mountains, 
nearly a score in number, the loftiest of which is entitled 
Starr King, after the late clergyman of that name, and is 
five thousand six hundred feet in height. But the Three 
Brothers, with an average height of less than four thousand 
feet, and Sentinel Dome, measuring four thousand five hun- 
dred feet high, seem to the casual observer to be quite as 
prominent, while El Capitan, which is about three thou- 
sand three hundred feet in height, appears from its more 
favorable position to be the most striking and effective of 
them all. Eleven water-falls of greater or less magnitude 
come tumbling into the valley, adding to the picturesque- 
ness of the scene. Of these several falls, that which is 



8 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

known as the Bridal Veil will be sure to strike the stranger 
as the finest, though not the loftiest. The constant moist- 
ure and the vertical rays of the sun carpet the level plain 
of the valley with a bright and uniform verdure, through 
the midst of which winds the swift-flowing Merced River, 
adding completeness to a scene of rare and enchanting 
beauty. 

It was not until so late as the year 185 1 that the foot of 
a white man ever trod the valley, which had for years 
proven the secure hiding-place of marauding Indians. In 
their battles with the whites, the latter were often sur- 
prised by the sudden disappearance of their foes, who van- 
ished mysteriously, leaving no traces behind them. On 
these occasions, as was afterwards discovered, they fled to 
the almost inaccessible Yosemite Valley. Betrayed at last 
by a treacherous member of their own tribe, the Indians 
were surprised and nearly all destroyed. There is scarcely 
a resident in the valley except those connected with the 
running of the stages during the summer months, and 
those who are attached- to the hotel. It is quite inacces- 
sible in winter. An encampment of native Indians is gen- 
erally to be seen in the warm months, located on the river's 
bank, under the shade of a grove of tall trees ; the river 
and the forest afford these aborigines ample food. For 
winter use they store a crop of acorns, which they dry, and 
grind into a nourishing flour. They are a dirty, sad-looking 
race, far more repulsive in appearance than the lowest type 
of Spanish gypsies one meets in Andalusia. 

In returning from the Yosemite to San Francisco, let us 
do so by the road leading through the Mariposa Grove of 
Big Trees. These forest monarchs are situated in a thickly 
wooded glade hundreds of feet up the slope of the Sierra. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 9 

We find one of these trees partially decayed towards its 
base, yet still alive and standing upright with a broad, lofty 
passage-way through its entire trunk, large enough for our 
stage, laden with passengers inside and out, to drive 
through. Though time has made such havoc with this 
trunk, it still possesses sufficient vitality to bear leaves 
upon its topmost branches, some three hundred feet above 
the ground. It is curious that these enormous trees, among 
the largest upon the globe, have cones only about the 
size of walnuts, with seeds of hardly a quarter of an inch 
in length. There are trunks lying upon the ground in this 
remarkable grove which are believed to be two thousand 
years of age ; and others upright, and in growing con- 
dition, which are reckoned by their clearly defined annual 
rings, to be thirteen hundred years old. The region em- 
braced in what is known as the Yosemite Valley has been 
ceded by the National Government to the State of Califor- 
nia, on the express condition that it shall be kept inviolate 
in its present wild and natural state for all time. 

The streets, alleys, and boulevards of San Francisco pre- 
sent a panorama of human interest rarely excelled in any 
part of the world. How impressive to watch its cosmopol- 
itan life, to note the exaggerated love of pleasure exhibited 
on all hands, the devotion of each active member of the 
community to money-making, the prevailing manners and 
customs, the iniquitous pursuits of the desperate and dan- 
gerous classes, and the readiness of their too willing vic- 
tims ! It is the solitary looker-on who sees more than the 
actors in the great drama of every-day life. Above all, it is 
most curious to observe how the lines of barbarism and 
ci-\dlization intersect along these teeming avenues. 

There is a district of the city near its very centre, known 



jQ FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

as Chinatown, which is at total variance with the general 
surroundings. It requires but a slight stretch of the imag- 
ination after passing its borders to believe one's self in Can- 
ton or Hong Kong, except that the thoroughfares in the 
Asiatic capitals are mere alleys in width, shut in overhead 
and darkened by straw mats, while here we have broad 
streets after the American and European fashion, open to 
the sky. They are, however, lined with Chinese shops, 
decked in all their national peculiarities, exhibiting the 
most grotesque signs, while the windows are crowded with 
outlandish articles, and the whole surrounded by an Oriental 
atmosphere. This section is almost entirely peopled by 
Mongolians, and such poor abandoned men and women of 
other nationalities as seek among these repulsive surround- 
ings to hide themselves from the shame and penalty of 
their crimes. 

It is not proposed in these Foot-Prints of Travel to re- 
main long on this continent. Americans are presumed to 
be quite familiar with their native land ; so we will embark 
without delay upon a voyage across the Pacific Ocean to 
Japan, by way of the Sandwich Islands. Once on board 
ship, we quickly pass through the Golden Gate, as the en- 
trance to the spacious harbor of San Francisco is called, 
steering south-southwest towards the Hawaiian group, 
which is situated a little over two thousand miles away. 
The great seas and oceans of the globe, like the land, have 
their geographical divisions and local peculiarities, varying 
essentially in temperature, products, and moods ; now 
marked by certain currents ; now noted for typhoons and 
hurricanes ; and now lying in latitudes which are favored 
with almost constant calms and unvarying sunshine. By a 
glance at the map we shall see that a vessel taking her 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. II 

course for New Zealand, for instance, by the way of the 
Sandwich Islands, will pass through a tract of the Pacific 
Ocean seemingly so full of islands that we are led to wonder 
how a ship pursuing such a route can avoid running foul 
of some of the Polynesian groups. But it must be remem- 
bered that the distances which are so concisely depicted to 
our eyes upon the map, are yet vast in reality, while so 
mathematically exact are the rules of navigation, and so 
well known are the prevailing currents, that a steamship 
may make the voyage from Honolulu to Auckland, a dis- 
tance of four thousand miles, without sighting land. 
When Magellan, the Portuguese navigator, first discovered 
this great ocean, after sailing through the straits which 
bear his name, he called it the Pacific Ocean, and perhaps 
it seemed "pacific" to him after a stormy voyage in the 
Caribbean Sea ; but portions of its surface are quite as 
restless and tempest-tossed as are the waters of any part 
of the globe. The Pacific measures nine thousand miles 
from north to south, and is ten thousand miles broad be- 
tween Quito, South America, and the Moluccas or Spice 
Islands. At the extreme north, where Behring's Strait 
divides the continents of Asia and America, it is scarcely 
more than forty miles in width, so that in clear weather 
one can see the shores of Asia while standing on our own 
continent. 

It is an eight days' voyage by steamship from San Fran- 
cisco to Honolulu, giving the traveller ample time to fa- 
miliarize himself with many peculiarities of this waste 
of waters. Occasionally a whale is sighted, throwing 
up a small column of water as it rises at intervals to 
the surface. A whale is not a fish ; it differs materially 
from the finny tribe, and can as surely be drowned as can 



12 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

a man. Whales bring forth living young; they breathe 
atmospheric air through their lungs in place of water 
through gills, having also a double heart and warm blood, 
like land animals. Flying-fish are frequently seen, queer 
little creatures, resembling the smelts of our northern 
waters. While exhibiting the nature of a fish, they have 
also the soaring ambition of a bird. Hideous, man-eating 
sharks are sure to follow in the ship's wake, watching for 
some unfortunate victim of a sailor or passenger who may 
fall overboard, and eagerly devouring any refuse thrown 
from the cook's galley. At times the many-armed cuttle- 
fish is seen to leap out of the water, while the star-fish, 
with its five arms of equal length, abounds. Though it 
seems so apparently lifeless, the star-fish" can be quite ag- 
gressive when pressed by hunger, having, as naturalists 
tell us, a mysterious way of causing the oyster to open its 
shell, when it proceeds gradually to consume the body of 
the bivalve. One frail, small rover of the deep is sure to 
interest the voyager ; namely, the tiny nautilus, with its 
transparent covering, almost as frail as writing-paper. No 
wonder the ancient Greeks saw in its beautifully corru- 
gated shell the graceful model of a galley, and hence its 
name, derived from the Greek word which signifies a ship. 
Sometimes a pale gray, amber-like substance is seen float- 
ing upon the surface of the sea, which, upon examination, 
proves to be ambergris, a substance originally found in the 
body of the sperm whale, and which is believed to be pro- 
duced there only, Scientists declare it to be a secretion 
caused by disease in the animal, probably induced by in- 
digestion, as the pearl is said to be a diseased secretion of 
the Australian and Penang oysters. Ambergris is not in- 
frequently found floating along the shores of the Coral Sea, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 3 

and about the west coast of New Zealand, having been 
ejected by the whales which frequent these waters. When 
first taken from the animal it is of a soft texture, and is 
offensive to the smell ; but after a brief exposure to the air 
it rapidly hardens, and then emits a sweet, earthy odor, 
and is used in manufacturing choice perfumery. 

The harbor of San Francisco abounds in big, white sea- 
gulls, which fly fearlessly in and out among the shipping, 
uttering defiant screams, or floating gracefully like corks 
upon the water. They are large, handsome, dignified 
birds, and are never molested, being looked upon as pictur- 
esque ornaments to the harbor ; and they are also the most 
active of scavengers, removing all sorts of floating carrion 
and refuse which is thrown overboard. The gulls one sees 
off the coast of Norway are numbered by thousands, but 
they are not nearly so large as these bird monarchs of the 
Pacific. A score of these are sure to accompany us to 
sea, closely following the ship day after day, living mostly 
upon the refuse thrown out from the steward's depart- 
ment. In the month of October, 1884, one of these birds 
was caught by the passengers upon a steamship just as 
she was leaving the coast of America for Japan. A piece 
of red tape was made fast to one of its legs, after which it 
was restored to liberty. This identical gull followed the 
ship between four and five thousand miles, into the harbor 
of Yokohama. Distance seems to be of little account to 
these buoyant navigators of the air. 

On approaching the Hawaiian group from the north, 
the first land which is sighted is the island of Oahu, and 
soon after we pass along the windward shores of Maui and 
Molokai, doubling the lofty promontory of Diamond Head, 
which rears its precipitous front seven hundred feet above 



14 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the sea. We arrive at the dawn of day, while the rising 
sun beautifies the mountain tops, the green slopes, the 
gulches, and fern-clad hills, which here and there sparkle 
with silvery streamlets. The gentle morning breeze blow- 
ing off the land brings us the dewy fragrance of the 
flowers, which has been distilled from a wilderness of trop- 
ical bloom during the night. The land forms a shelter for 
our vessel, and we glide noiselessly over a perfectly calm 
sea. As we draw nearer to the shore, sugar plantations, 
cocoanut groves, and verdant pastures come clearly into 
view. Here and there the shore is dotted with the low, 
primitive dwellings of the natives, and occasionally we see 
picturesque, vine-clad cottages of American or European 
residents. Approaching still nearer to the city of Hono- 
lulu, it seems to be half-buried in a cloud of luxuriant 
foliage, while a broad and beautiful valley stretches away 
from the town far back among the lofty hills. 

The steamer glides at half speed through the narrow 
channel in the coral reef which makes the natural break- 
water of the harbor. This channel is carefully buoyed on 
either side, and at night safety-lamps are placed upon each 
of these little floating beacons, so that a steamship can 
find her way in even after nightfall. Though the volcanic 
origin of the land is plain, it is not the sole cause of these 
reefs and islands appearing thus in mid-ocean. Upon the 
flanks of the upheaval the little coral animal, with tireless 
industry, rears its amazing structure, until it reaches the 
surface of the waves as a reef, more or less contiguous to 
the shore, and to which ages finally serve to join it. The 
tiny creature delegated by Providence to build these reefs 
dies on exposure to the air, its work being then completed. 
The far-reaching antiquity of the islands is established by 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 5 

these very coralline formations, which could only have at- 
tained their present elevation, just below the surface of 
the surrounding sea, by the growth of thousands of years. 
This coral formation on the shores of the Hawaiian 
group is not peculiar to these islands, but is found to exist 
in connection with nearly all of those existing in the Paci- 
fic Ocean. 

The lighthouse, placed on the inner side of the coral 
reef, is a structure not quite thirty feet in height. After 
reaching the inside of the harbor of Honolulu, the anchor- 
age is safe and sheltered, with ample room for a hundred 
large vessels at the same time, the average depth of water 
being some sixteen fathoms. The wharves are spacious 
and substantial, built with broad, high coverings to protect 
laborers from the heat of a tropical sun. Honolulu is the 
commercial port of the whole group of islands, — the half- 
way house, as it were, between North America and Asia, 
— California and the new world of Australasia. 



1 6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER II. 

UPON landing at Honolulu we find ourselves in a city 
of some twenty thousand inhabitants, presenting all 
the modern belongings of a metropolis of the nineteenth 
century, such as schools, churches, hospitals, charitable 
institutions, gas, electric lights, and the telephone. Nearly 
all of the rising generation can read and write, and the 
entire population are professed Christians. Great is the 
contrast in every respect between these islands as dis- 
covered by Captain Cook in 1778, and their present con- 
dition. Originally they exhibited the same barbarous 
characteristics which were found to exist in other islands 
of the Pacific Ocean. They had no sense of domestic 
virtue, and were victims of the most egregious supersti- 
tions. "The requisitions of their idolatry," says the 
historian Ellis, " were severe, and its rites cruel and 
bloody." Their idolatry has been abandoned since 18 19. 
In the early days the several islands of the group had each 
a separate king, and wars were frequent between them, 
until King Kamehameha finally subjected them all to his 
sway, and formed the government which has lasted to the 
present time. 

Many of the streets of Honolulu afford a grateful shade, 
the sidewalks being lined by ornamental trees, of which 
the cocoanut, palm, bread-fruit, candle-nut, and some 
others, are indigenous, but many have been introduced 
from abroad and have become domesticated. The tall 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 7 

mango-tree, with rich, glossy leaves, the branches bend- 
ing under the weight of its delicious fruit, is seen growing 
everywhere, though it is not a native of these islands. 
Among other fruit-trees we observe the feathery tama- 
rind, orange, lime, alligator-pear, citron-fig, date, and rose 
apple. Of all the flowering trees, the most conspicuous 
and attractive is one which bears a cloud of brilliant 
scarlet blossoms, each cluster ball-shaped and as large as 
a Florida orange. Some of the thoroughfares are lined by 
pretty, low-built cottages, standing a few rods back from 
the roadway, with broad, inviting verandas, the whole 
festooned and nearly hidden by tropical and semi-tropical 
plants in full bloom. If we drive out to the race-course in 
the environs, we shall be pretty sure to see King Kalakaua, 
who is very fond of this sort of sport. He is a man of 
intelligence and of considerable culture, but whose personal 
habits are of a low and disgraceful character. He has 
reached his fifty-second year. 

It will be observed that the women ride man-fashion 
here, — that is, astride of their horses, — and there is a good 
reason for this. Even European and American ladies who 
become residents also adopt this mode of riding, because 
side-saddles are not considered to be safe on the steep 
mountain roads. If one rides in any direction here, moun- 
tains must be crossed. The native women deck them- 
selves in an extraordinary manner with flowers on all gala 
occasions, while the men wear wreaths of the same about 
their straw hats, often adding braids of laurel leaves across 
the shoulders and chest. The white blossoms of the 
jasmine, fragrant as tuberoses, which they much resemble, 
are generally employed for this decorative purpose. As a 
people the Hawaiians are very courteous and respectful, 



1 8 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

rarely failing to greet all passing strangers with a softly 
articulated ''alo-ha," which signifies "my love to you." 

A drive up the Nuuanu valley, which opens with a broad 
entrance near the city, introduces us to some grand scenery. 
In ascending this beautiful valley one is constantly charmed 
by the discovery of new tropical trees, luxurious creepers 
and lovely wild-flowers. The strangers' burial-ground is 
passed just after crossing the Nuuanu stream, and close at 
hand is the Royal Mausoleum, — a stone structure in 
Gothic style, which contains the remains of the Hawaiian 
kings, as well as those of many of the high chiefs who 
have died since the conquest. Some shaded bathing-pools 
are formed by the mountain streams, lying half hidden in 
the dense foliage. Here we pass the residence of the late 
Oueen Emma, pleasantly located and flower-embowered. 
This valley is classic ground in the history of these islands, 
being the spot where the fierce and conquering invader, 
King Kamehameha I., fought his last decisive battle, the 
result of which confirmed him as sole monarch of the 
Hawaiian group. Here the natives of Oahu made their 
final stand and fought desperately, resisting with clubs 
and spears the savage hordes led by Kamehameha. But 
they were defeated at last, and with their king Kaiana, 
who led them in person, were all driven over the abrupt 
and fatal cliff fifteen hundred feet high, situated at the 
upper end of the valley. 

In the environs of the city one passes upon the road- 
sides large patches measuring an acre or more of sub- 
merged land, where is grown the Hawaiian staff of life, — 
the taro, a root which is cultivated in mud and mostly 
under water, recaUing the rice-fields of China and Japan. 
The vegetable thus produced, when baked and pounded to 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 9 

a flour, forms a nutritious sort of dough called/^/, which 
constitutes the principal article of food for the natives, as 
potatoes do with the Irish or macaroni with the Italians. 
This poi is eaten both cooked and in a raw state mixed 
with water. 

Though Oahu is quite mountainous, like the rest of the 
islands which form the Hawaiian group, still none of these 
reach the elevation of perpetual snow. The six inhabited 
islands of the group are Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Lanai, 
Maui, and Hawaii, the last containing the largest active 
volcano of which we have any knowledge; namely, that 
of Kilauea, to visit which persons cross the Atlantic 
and Pacific oceans, and also the American continent, 
between the two. Honolulu was chosen for the capital 
because it forms the best and almost the only harbor 
worthy of the name to be found among these islands. In 
the olden times Lahaina, on the island of Maui, was the 
city of the king, and the recognized capital in the palmy 
days of the whale fishery. This settlement is now going 
to ruin, tumbling to pieces by wear and tear of the ele- 
ments, forming a rude picture of decay. Should the 
Panama Canal be completed, it would prove to be of great 
advantage to these islands, as they lie in the direct course 
which a great share of navigation must follow. The aggre- 
gate population of the group is now about sixty thousand, 
of whom some thirty-eight thousand are natives. History 
tells us that Captain Cook estimated these islands to con- 
tain over three hundred thousand inhabitants when he dis- 
covered them. Perhaps this was an exaggeration, though 
it is a fact that they are capable of sustaining a popula- 
tion of even much greater density than this estimate 
would indicate. 



20 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The ubiquitous Chinamen are found here as gardeners, 
laborers, house-servants, fruit-dealers, and poi-makers. What 
an overflow there has been of these Asiatics from the 
"Flowery Land!" Each one of the race arriving at the 
Sandwich Islands is now obliged to pay ten dollars as his 
landing fee, in default of which the vessel which brings 
him is compelled to take him away. This singular people, 
who are wonderfully industrious, notwithstanding their 
many faults, are equally disliked in these islands by the 
natives, the Americans, and the Europeans ; yet the China- 
men steadily increase in numbers, and it is believed here 
that they are destined eventually to take the place of the 
aborigines. The aggregate number now to be found in 
the group is over twelve thousand. It is evident that 
many branches of small trade are already monopolized by 
them, as is the case at Penang, Singapore, and other 
Pacific islands. On Nuuanu Street every shop is occupied 
by a Chinaman, dealing in such articles as his own country- 
men and the natives are likely to purchase. It does 
certainly appear as though the aboriginal race would in 
the near future be obliterated, and their place filled by the 
Anglo-Saxons and the Chinese, the representative people 
of the East and the West. The taro-patches of the Hawai- 
ians will doubtless ere long become the rice-fields of the 
Mongolians. 

In the year 1887 there was raised upon these islands a 
very large amount of sugar, over one hundred thousand 
tons in all. The entire product, except what was con- 
sumed for domestic use, was shipped to this country. 
Three-quarters of the money invested in sugar-raising here 
is furnished by American capitalists, and American mana- 
gers carry on the plantations. A reciprocity treaty be- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21 

tween the Sandwich Islands and this country (that is, a 
national agreement upon matters of mutual interest), and 
their proximity to the shores of America, have brought 
this people virtually under the wing of our Government, 
concentrating their foreign trade almost entirely in the 
United States, while the youth of the islands, of both sexes, 
are sent hither for educational purposes. There is no 
other foreign port in the world where the American flag is 
so often seen, or more respected than in that of Honolulu. 

The Hawaiian Islands are not on the direct route to 
Japan, and we therefore find it better to return to San 
Francisco and embark from there, than to await the arrival 
of a chance steamer bound westward. Our course is not 
in the track of general commerce, and neither ship nor 
shore is encountered while crossing this vast expanse of 
water. Storm^s' and calms alternate ; sometimes the ocean 
is as smooth as an inland lake, and at others in its unrest 
it tossed our iron hull about as though it were a mere skiff, 
in place of a ship of three thousand tons' measurement. 
The roughness of the water is exhibited near the coast and 
in narrow seas by short, chopping waves ; but in the open 
ocean these are changed to long, heavy swells, covering 
the expanse of waters with vast parallels separated by deep 
valleys, the distance from crest to crest being from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred feet during a heavy gale. 
The height of the waves is measured from the trough to 
the crest, and is of course conjecture only, but in heavy 
weather it may safely be set down at thirty feet. 

Every steamship on the trip westward carries more or 
less Chinamen, who, having acquired a certain sum of 
money by industry and self-denial, are glad to return to 
their native land and live upon its income. Interest is 



22 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

very high in China, and money is scarce. It is curious to 
watch these second-class passengers. In fine weather they 
crowd the forward deck, squatting upon their hams in 
picturesque groups, and playing cards or dominos for small 
stakes of money. The Chinese are inveterate gamblers 
but are satisfied generally to play for very small stakes 
When the sea becomes rough and a storm rages, they ex 
hibit great timidity, giving up all attempts at amusement 
On such occasions, with sober faces and trembling hands 
they prepare pieces of joss-paper (scraps with magic words) 
bearing Chinese letters, and cast them overboard to propi 
tiate the anger of the special god who controls the sea 
The dense, noxious smell which always permeates their 
quarters, in spite of enforced ventilation and the rules of 
the ship, is often wafted unpleasantly to our own part of 
the vessel, telling a significant story of the opium pipe, and 
a certain uncleanliness of person peculiar to Africans and 
Mongolians. 

After a three weeks' voyage we reach Yokohama, the com- 
mercial capital of Japan. When Commodore Perry opened 
this port in 1854 with a fleet of American men-of-war, it was 
scarcely more than a fishing village, but it has now a pop- 
ulation of a hundred and thirty thousand, with well-built 
streets of dwelling-houses, the thoroughfares broad and 
clean, and all macadamized. The town extends along the 
level shore, but is backed by a half -moon of low, wooded 
hills, known as the Bluff, among which are the dwellings 
of the foreign residents, built after the European and 
American style. A deep, broad canal surrounds the city, 
passing by the large warehouses, and connected with the 
bay at each end, being crossed by several handsome bridges. 
If we ascend the road leading to the Bluff we have a most 



"i!fif 



:^^^,^ 




MODE OF TRAVELLING IN JAPAN. A JINRIKSHA. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 23 

charming and extended view. In the west, seventy miles 
away, the white, cloud-like cone of Fujiyama, a large vol- 
canic mountain of Japan, can clearly be discerned, while all 
about us lie the pretty villas of the foreign settlers. 

In looking about this commercial capital everything 
strikes us as curious ; every new sight is a revelation, 
while in all directions tangible representations of the 
strange pictures we have seen upon fans and lacquered 
ware are presented to view. One is struck by the partial 
nudity of men, women, and children, the extremely simple 
architecture of the dwelling-houses, the peculiar vegetation, 
the extraordinary salutations between the common people 
who meet each other upon the streets, the trading bazars, 
and the queer toy-like articles which fill them ; children 
flying kites in the shape of hideous yellow monsters. Each 
subject becomes a fresh study. Men drawing vehicles, like 
horses between the shafts, and trotting off at a six-mile 
pony-gait while drawing after them one or two persons, is 
a singular sight to a stranger. So are the naked natives, 
by fours, bearing heavy loads swung from their shoulders 
upon stout bamboo poles, while they shout a measured 
chant by means of which to keep step. No beggars are 
seen upon the streets ; the people without exception are 
all neat and cleanly. The houses are special examples of 
neatness, and very small, being seldom more than twenty 
feet square, and one story in height. All persons, foreign- 
ers or natives, take off their shoes before entering upon 
the polished floors, not only out of respect to the customs 
of the country, but because one does not feel like treading 
upon their floors with nailed heels or soiled soles. The 
conviction forces itself upon us that such universal neat- 
ness and cleanliness must extend even to the moral char- 



24 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

acter of the people. A spirit of gentleness, industry, and 
thrift are observable everywhere, imparting an Arcadian 
atmosphere to these surroundings. In the houses which 
we enter there are found neither chairs, tables, nor bed- 
steads ; the people sit, eat, and sleep upon the floors, which 
are as clean as a newly laid tablecloth. 

Here and there upon the roadsides moss-grown shrines 
bearing sacred emblems are observed, before which women, 
but rarely men, are seen bending. The principal religions 
of Japan are Shinto and Buddhism, subdivided into many 
sects. The Shinto is mainly a form of hero worship, suc- 
cessful warriors being canonized as martyrs are in the 
Roman Catholic Church. Buddhism is another form of 
idolatry, borrowed originally from the Chinese. The lan- 
guage of the country is composed of the Chinese and Japa- 
nese combined. As we travel inland, places are pointed 
out to us where populous cities once stood, but where no 
ruins mark the spot. A dead and buried city in Europe or 
in Asia leaves rude but almost indestructible remains to 
mark where great copimunities once built temples and 
monuments, and lived and thrived, like those historic ex- 
amples of mutability, Memphis, Paestum, Cumae, or Delhi ; 
but not so in Japan. It seems strange indeed that a local- 
ity where half a million of people have made their homes 
within the period of a century, should now present the 
aspect only of fertile fields of grain. But when it is re- 
membered of what fragile material the natives build their 
dwellings, — namely, of light, thin wood and paper, — their 
utter disappearance ceases to surprise us. It is a curious fact 
that this people, contemporary with Greece and Rome at 
their zenith, who have only reared cities of wood and tem- 
ples of lacquer, have outlived the classic nations whose half- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 25 

ruined monuments are our choicest models. The Greek 
and Latin races have passed away, but Japan still remains, 
without a change of dynasty and with an inviolate country. 

In journeying inland we are struck with many peculiar- 
ities showing how entirely opposite to our own methods 
are many of theirs. At the post-stations the horses are 
placed and tied in their stalls with their heads to the 
passage-way, and their tails where we place their heads. 
Instead of iron shoes, the Japanese pony is shod with 
close-braided rice-straw. Carpenters, in using the fore- 
plane, draw it towards them instead of pushing it from 
them. It is the same in using a saw, the teeth being set 
accordingly. So the tailor sews from him, not towards 
his body, and holds his thread with his toes. The women 
ride astride, like the Hawaiians. 

A trip of fifteen miles from Yokohama will take us to 
the town of Kamakura, where we find the remarkable idol 
of Dai-Butsu. This great Buddha image, composed of gold, 
silver, and copper, forms a bronze figure of nearly sixty 
feet in height, within which a hundred persons may stand 
together, the interior being fitted at the base as a small 
chapel. A vast number of little scraps of paper bearing 
Japanese characters, flutter from the interior walls of the 
big idol, fastened there by pious pilgrims, forming petitions 
to the presiding deity. As we enter, these scraps, agi- 
tated by the winds, rustle like an army of white bats. 
This sacred figure is as remarkable as the Sphinx, which 
presides so placidly at the feet of the great Pyramids. As 
a work of art, its only merits consist in the calm dignity 
of expression and repose upon its colossal features. It is 
many centuries old, and how such an enormous amount of 
bronze metal was ever cast, or how set up in such perfect 



26 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

shape when finished, no one can say. It must have been 
completed in sections and put together in the place where 
it stands, the joints being so perfectly welded as not to be 
obvious. It was formerly covered by a temple which has 
long since mouldered to dust, but it is certainly none the 
less effective and impressive, as it now sits surrounded by 
the natural scenery and the thick woods. 

Japanese art, of which we have all seen such laughable 
specimens, is not without some claims to excellence; other- 
wise we should not have the myriads of beautifully orna- 
mented articles which are produced by them, exhibiting 
exquisite finish and perfection of detail. Of perspective 
they have no idea whatever ; the play of light and shade 
they do not understand ; there is no distinction of dis- 
tances in their pictures. Their figures are good, being 
also delicately executed, and their choice of colors is ad- 
mirable. Thus in profile work they get on very well, but 
in grouping, they pile houses on the sea, and mountains on 
the houses. In caricature they greatly excel, and, indeed, 
they scarcely attempt to represent the human face and 
figure in any other light. 

Tokio is the political capital of Japan, and is situated 
about twenty miles from Yokohama, containing over half a 
million of people. It has broad streets and good roadways, 
having adopted many American ideas of city customs and 
government. The Bridge of Japan is situated in this city, 
crossing the river which intersects the capital, and is here 
what the golden milestone was in the Forum at Rome — 
all distances in the Empire are measured from it. There 
are many elaborate temples within the city, containing rare 
bronzes of great value. Priests are constantly seen writ- 
ing upon slips of paper, inside of the temples, at the re- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 2/ 

quest of devotees, which the suppHants pin upon the walls 
of the temple as a form of prayer. The renowned temple 
of Shiba is one of the greatest attractions to strangers in 
Tokio. Here lie buried most of the bygone Tycoons 
(sovereigns of Japan). The grounds are divided into 
many departments, tombs, shrines, and small temples. In 
the main temple there is an amount of gold, silver, 
and bronze ornaments of fabulous value, leading us to 
wonder where the raw material could have come from. 
History knows nothing of the importation of the precious 
metals, but it is true that they are found in more or less 
abundance all over the country. Copper of the purest 
quality is a native product, the exportation of which is 
prohibited, and mining for the precious metals is carried 
on to but a very limited extent. The temple of Shiba is 
situated near the centre of the population, occupying many 
acres of ground, walled in, and shaded by a thick grove of 
trees, whose branches are black with thousands of undis- 
turbed rooks and pigeons which are considered sacred. 
The principal characteristic of the architecture is its bold- 
ness of relief, overhanging roofs, heavy brackets, and elab- 
orate carvings. The doors are of solid bronze in bas- 
relief. 

In the suburbs is a hill known as Atago-Yama, from 
whence there is a grand, comprehensive view of the capi- 
tal. A couple of miles to the southeast lies the broad, 
glistening Bay of Tokio, and round the other points of the 
compass the imperial city itself covers a plain of some eight 
miles square, divided by water-ways, bridges, and clumps 
of graceful trees looming conspicuously above the low 
dwellings. The whole is as level as a checker-board ; but 
yet there is relief to the picture in the fine open gardens, 



28 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the high-peaked gable roofs of the temples, and the broad 
white roadways. 

A visit to Kioto, which is called the City of Temples, 
shows us some prominent local peculiarities. The Japa- 
nese character presents as much unlikeness to the Oriental 
as to the European type, and is comparable only to itself. 
A native believes that the little caricature in ivory or wood 
which has, perhaps, been manufactured under his own 
eyes, or even by his own hands, is sacred, and he will 
address his prayers to it with a solemn conviction of its 
power to respond favorably. His most revered gods are 
effigies of renowned warriors and successful generals. 
African superstition is no blinder than is such adora- 
tion, though it be performed by an intelligent people. 
Some of the native animals, such as foxes, badgers, and 
snakes, are protected with superstitious reverence. Before 
one of the temples we see a theatrical performance in 
progress, which seems rather incongruous, but upon in- 
quiry the object of this is found to be a desire to appease 
the special gods of this individual temple ; in fact, to en- 
tertain and amuse them so that they will receive the 
prayers of the people with favor. The exhibition consists 
of dancing and posturing by professionals of both sexes, 
accompanied by the noise of whistles, gongs, bells, and 
fifes. 

At Koby we embark for Nagasaki, sailing the whole 
length of the famous Inland Sea, a most enchanting three 
days' voyage among lovely islands, terraced and cultivated 
here and there like vineyards on the Rhine. The course 
is characterized by narrow and winding passages, losing 
themselves in creeks and bays after a most curious fashion, 
while brown hamlets here and there fringe the coast line. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 29 

Nagasaki is in the extreme south of Japan, a city second 
only to Yokohama in commercial importance. A sad in- 
terest attaches to the small but lofty island of Pappenburg, 
which stands like a sentinel guarding the entrance to the 
harbor. It is the Tarpeian Rock of the far East. During 
the persecution of the Christians in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, the steep cliff which forms the seaward side of the 
island was an execution point, and from here men and 
women who declined to abjure their faith were cast head- 
long on the sea-washed rocks five hundred feet below. 
The harbor is surrounded by lofty elevations. Tall, dark 
pines and a verdant undergrowth mark the deep ravines 
and sloping hillsides, upon which European dwellings are 
seen overlooking the bay. If we chmb the path among 
these hills we occasionally pass a Buddhist temple, and 
come upon many wild-flowers, shaded by oaks and cam- 
phor-trees of great size and beautiful foliage, with occa- 
sional specimens of the Japanese wax-tree. Still further 
up, the hills are covered with dark, moss-grown grave- 
stones, bearing curious characters engraven upon them, 
and marking the sleeping-places of bygone generations. 
The unbroken quiet of this city of the dead contrasts 
vividly with the hum of busy life which comes up to us 
from the town with its population of a hundred thousand 
souls. As to the products of this locality, they are mostly 
figured porcelain, embroidered silks, japanned goods, ebony 
and tortoise-shell finely carved and manufactured into toy 
ornaments. Every small, low house has a shop in front 
quite open to the street ; but small as these houses are, 
room is nearly always found in the rear or at the side for 
a little flower-garden, fifteen or twenty feet square, where 
dwarf trees flourish amid hillocks of turf and ferns, with 



30 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

here and there a tub of goldfish. Azaleas, laurels, and 
tiny clumps of bamboos, are the most common plants to 
be seen in these charming little spots of greenery. 

Botanists declare Japan to be one of the richest of all 
countries in its vegetation. The cultivation of the soil is 
thoroughly and skilfully systematized, the greatest pos- 
sible results being obtained from a given area of land. 
This is partly due to the careful mode of enrichment ap- 
phed in liquid form. Its flora is spontaneous and mag- 
nificent, repaying the smallest attention by a development 
which is surprising. Next in importance to the production 
of rice, which is the staple food of the people, come the 
mulberry and tea plants, one species of the former not only 
feeding the silkworm, but it also affords the fibre of which 
Japanese paper is made, as well as forming the basis of 
their cordage and some descriptions of dress material. In 
usefulness the bamboo is most remarkable, growing to a 
height of sixty feet, and entering into the construction 
of house-frames, screens, many household articles, mats, 
pipes, and sails. The camphor-tree, which is seen in such 
abundance, is a grand ornament in the landscape, lofty and 
broad-spread. The camphor of commerce is extracted 
from both the stem and the roots of the tree, which, being 
cut into small pieces, are subjected to a process of decoc- 
tion. 

No sooner have the Japanese been fairly introduced 
to American and European civilization, than they have 
promptly taken a stride of four or five centuries at a single 
leap, from despotism in its most ultra form to constitu- 
tional government. When America opened the port of 
Yokohama to the commerce of the world, it also opened 
that hermetically sealed land to the introduction of pro- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 3 I 

gressive ideas ; and though, unfortunately, the elements 
of civilization which are most readily assimilated are not 
always the most beneficial, still the result, taken as a whole, 
has been worthy of the admiration of the world at large. 

The natural intelligence of the Japanese has no superior 
among any race, however much it may have been perverted, 
or have lain dormant. There is evidence enough of this 
in the fact that the young men of that country who are 
sent here for educational purposes, so frequently win 
academic prizes and honors over our native scholars, not- 
withstanding the disadvantages under which a foreigner 
is inevitably placed. 

When we speak of the progress of the Japanese as a 
nation, we must not forget that the national records of the 
country date from nearly seven hundred years before the 
birth of Christ, and that a regular succession of TVIikados 
(supreme rulers), in lineal descent from the founders of 
their dynasty and race, has since that remote date been 
carefully preserved. 



32 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM Nagasaki, in following our proposed course, we 
sail for Hong Kong, through the Yellow and Chinese 
seas, a distance of eleven hundred miles. This is very- 
sure to be a rough passage, and the marvel is rather that 
more vessels are not lost here than that so many are. 
Seamen call it "the graveyard of commerce." As we 
enter the magnificent harbor of Hong Kong it is found to 
be surrounded by a range of lofty hills, which shelter it com- 
pletely from the sweeping winds that so often prevail in 
this region. It is the most easterly of the possessions 
of Great Britain, and is kept in a well-fortified condition, 
the uniforms of the garrison being a striking feature of 
the busy streets of the city at all hours of the day. The 
houses in the European section are large and handsome 
structures, mostly of stone, rising tier upon tier from the 
main street to a height of some hundreds of feet on the 
face of the hill immediately back of the town. On and 
about the lofty Victoria Peak are many charming bunga- 
lows, or cottages, with attractive surroundings, which 
enjoy a noble prospect of the harbor and country. The 
streets appropriated to the use of the Europeans are 
spacious and clean, but the Chinese portion of Hong 
Kong is quite characteristic of the native race, — very 
crowded and very dirty, seeming to invite all sorts of 
epidemic diseases, which in fact nearly always prevail 
more or less severely among the lower classes. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 33 

These streets exhibit strange local pictures. The shoe- 
maker plies his trade in the open thoroughfare ; cooking 
is going on at all hours in the gutters beside the roads ; 
itinerant pedlers dispense food made of mysterious 
materials ; the barber shaves his customer upon the side- 
walk ; the universal fan is carried by the men, and not by 
the women. The Chinese mariner's compass does not 
point to the North Pole, but to the South ; that is, the 
index is placed upon the opposite end of the needle. 
When Chinamen meet each other upon the streets, in- 
stead of shaking each other's hands they shake their own. 
The men wear skirts, and the women wear pantaloons. 
The dressmakers are not women, but men. In reading a 
book a Chinaman begins at the end and reads backwards. 
We uncover the head as a mark of respect ; they take off 
their shoes for the same purpose, but keep their heads 
covered. We shave the face ; they shave the head and 
eyebrows. At dinner we begin the meal with soup and 
fish ; they reverse the order and begin with the dessert. 
The old men fly kites while the boys look on ; shuttle- 
cock is their favorite game ; it is played, however, not 
with the hands, but with the feet. White constitutes 
the mourning color, and black is the wedding hue. The 
women perform the men's work, and the men wash the 
clothing. We pay our physicians for attending us in 
illness ; they pay their doctors to keep them well, and 
stop their remuneration when they are ill. In short, this 
people seem to be our antipodes in customs as well as 
being so geographically. 

A visit to the water-front of the city affords much 
amusement, especially at the hour when the market boats 
with vegetables arrive from the country, and from along 



34 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

shore with fish. Here the people swarm Hke ants more 
than like human beings ; all eager for business, all crowd- 
ing and talking at the same time, and creating a confusion 
that would seem to defeat its own object ; namely, to buy 
and to sell. The vegetables are various and good, the 
variety of fruit limited and poor in flavor, but the fish are 
abundant and various in size and color. Nine-tenths of 
the business on the river-front is done by women, and 
they are very rarely seen without an infant strapped to 
their backs, while they are carrying heavy burdens in their 
hands, or are engaged in rowing or sculling their boats. 
They trade, make change, and clean the fish quite oblivious 
of the infant at their backs. A transient visitor to China 
is not competent to speak of the higher class of women, as 
no access can be had to domestic life. Only those of the 
common class appear indiscriminately in public, Oriental 
exclusiveness wrapping itself about the sex here nearly as 
rigidly as in Egypt. If ladies go abroad at all, it is in 
curtained palanquins, borne upon men's shoulders, partially 
visible through a transparent veil of gauze. Anywhere 
east of Italy woman is either a toy or a slave. 

Hong Kong is an island nearly forty miles in circum- 
ference, consisting of a cluster of hills rising almost to the 
dignity of mountains. The gray granite of which the 
island is mostly composed, furnishes an excellent material 
for building purposes, and is largely employed for that 
object, affording a good opportunity for architectural dis- 
play. A trip of a hundred miles up the Pearl River takes 
us to Canton, strangest of strange cities. It has a popu- 
lation of a million and a half, and yet there is not a street 
of over ten feet in width within the walls, horses and 
wheeled vehicles being unknown. The city extends a 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 35 

distance of five miles along the river, and a hundred thou- 
sand people live in boats. At the corners of the streets, 
niches in the walls of the houses contain idols, before 
which incense is constantly burning day and night. The 
most famous temple in the city is that of the Five Hun- 
dred Gods, containing that number of gilded statues of 
Buddhist sages, apostles, and deified warriors. In some of 
these sacred structures composed of shrines and miniature 
temples, among other seeming absurdities we see a num- 
ber of sacred hogs wallowing in their filth. Disgusting as 
it appears to an intelligent Christian, it has its palliating 
features. The Parsee worships fire, the Japanese bows 
before snakes and foxes, the Hindoo deifies cows and 
monkeys ; why, then, should not the Chinese have their 
swine as objects of veneration .-' We may destroy the 
idols, but let us not be too hard upon the idolaters ; they 
do as well as they know. The idol is the measure of 
the worshipper. The punishment of crime is swift and 
sure, the number of persons beheaded annually being 
almost incredible. Friday is the day for clearing the 
crowded prison at Canton, and it is not uncommon on 
that occasion to see a dozen criminals beheaded in the 
prison yard in eight minutes, one sweeping blow of the 
executioner's sword decapitating each human body as it 
stands erect and blindfolded. 

One is jostled in the narrow ways by staggering coolies 
with buckets of the vilest contents, and importuned for 
money by beggars who thrust their deformed limbs in his 
face. It is but natural to fear contagion of some sort from 
contact with such creatures, and yet the crowd is so dense 
that it is impossible to entirely avoid them. Under foot 
the streets are wet, muddy, and slipper}-. Why some 



36 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

deadly disease does not break out and sweep away the 
people is a mystery. 

Philanthropic societies are numerous in the cities of 
China. Indeed, they are hardly excelled by those of 
America or Europe. They embrace well-organized orphan 
asylums, institutions for the rehef of indigent widows 
with families, homes for the aged and infirm, public hospi- 
tals, and free schools in every district. As is the case 
with ourselves, some of these are purely governmental 
charities, while others are supported by liberal endow- 
ments left by deceased citizens. There are depots estab- 
lished to dispense medicines among the poor, and others 
whence clothing is distributed free of cost. It must be 
remembered that these societies and organizations are 
not copied from Western models. They have existed here 
from time immemorial. 

No one has ever been able to trace any affinity between 
the Chinese language and that of any other people, ancient 
or modern. It is absolutely unique. No other nation 
except the Japanese has ever borrowed from it, or mingled 
any of its elements with its own. It must have originated 
from the untutored efforts of a primitive people. Like 
the Egyptian tongue, it was at first probably composed 
of hieroglyphics, expressing ideas by pictured objects, 
which in the course of time became systematized into 
letters or signs expressive of sounds and words. 

Though we may dislike the Chinese, it is not wise to 
shut our eyes to facts which have passed into history. 
They have long been a reading and a cultured people. 
Five hundred years before the art of printing was known 
to Europe, books were multiplied by movable types in 
China. Every province has its separate history in print, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 37 

and reliable maps of each section of the country are extant. 
The civil code of laws is annually corrected and published, 
a certain degree of education is universal, and eight-tenths 
of the people can read and write. The estimate in which 
letters are held is shown by the fact that learning forms 
the very threshold that leads to fame, honor, and official 
position. The means of internal communication between 
one part of China and another are scarcely superior to 
those of Africa. By and by, however, railways will revo- 
lutionize this. Gold and silver are found in nearly every 
province of the Empire, while the central districts contain 
the largest coal-fields upon the globe. Nearly one-fourth 
of the human race is supposed to be comprised within the 
Chinese Empire. They look to the past, not to the future, 
and the word "progress" has apparently to them no real 
significance. 

In travelling through portions of the country a de- 
pressing sense of monotony is the prevailing feeling one 
experiences, each section is so precisely like another. 
There is no local individuality. Their veritable records 
represent this people as far back as the days of Abraham, 
and, indeed, they antedate that period. In two important 
discoveries they long preceded Europe ; namely, that of 
the magnetic compass and the use of gunpowder. The 
knowledge of these was long in travelling westward 
through the channels of Oriental commerce, by the way of 
Asia Minor. There are many antagonistic elements to 
consider in judging of the Chinese. The common people 
we meet in the ordinary walks of life are far from prepossess- 
ing, and are much the same as those who have emigrated 
to this country. One looks in vain among the smooth 
chins, shaved heads, and almond eyes of the crowd for 



38 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

signs of intelligence and manliness. There are no tokens 
of humor or cheerfulness to be seen, but in their place 
there is plenty of apparent cunning, slyness, and deceit, if 
there is any truth in physiognomy. With the Japanese 
the traveller feels himself constantly sympathizing. He 
goes among them freely, he enters their houses and drinks 
tea with them ; but not so with the Chinese. In place of 
affiliation we realize a constant sense of repulsion. 

We embark at Hong Kong for Singapore by the way of 
the China Sea and the Gulf of Siam. The northerly wind 
favors us, causing the ship to rush through the turbulent 
waters like a race-horse. The Philippine Islands are 
passed, and leaving Borneo on our port-bow as we draw 
near to the Equatorial Line, the ship is steered due west 
for the mouth of the Malacca Straits. Off the Gulf of 
Siam we are pretty sure to get a view of a water-spout, 
and it is to be hoped that it may be a goodly distance from 
us. Atmospheric and ocean currents meet here, from the 
China Sea northward, from the Malacca Straits south and 
west, and from the Pacific Ocean eastward, mingling off 
the Gulf of Siam, and causing, very naturally, a confusion 
of the elements, resulting sometimes in producing these 
wind and water phenomena. A water-spout is a miniature 
cyclone, an eddy of the wind rotating with such velocity 
as to suck up a column of water from the sea to the height 
of one or two hundred feet. This column of water appears 
to be largest at the top and bottom, and contracted in the 
middle. If it were to fall foul of a ship and break, it would 
surely wreck and submerge her. Modern science shows 
that all storms are cyclonic ; that is, they are circular 
eddies of wind of greater or less diameter. The power of 
these cyclones is more apparent upon the sea than upon 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 39 

the land, where the obstruction is naturally greater. Yet 
we know how destructive they sometimes prove in our 
Western States. 

Singapore is the chief port of the Malacca Straits, and 
is an island lying just off the southern point of Asia, thirty 
miles long and half as wide, containing a population of 
about a hundred thousand. Here, upon landing, we are 
surrounded by tropical luxuriance, the palm and cocoanut 
trees looming above our heads and shading whole groves 
of bananas. The most precious spices, the richest fruits, 
the gaudiest feathered birds are found in their native 
atmosphere. There are plenty of Chinese at Singapore. 
They dominate the Strait settlements, monopolizing all 
branches of small trade, while the natives are lazy and 
listless, true children of the equatorial regions. Is it 
because Nature is here so bountiful, so lovely, so prolific, 
that her children are sluggish, dirty, and heedless ? It 
would seem to require a less propitious climate, a sterile 
soil, and rude surroundings to awaken human energy and 
to place man at his best. The common people are seen 
almost naked, and those who wear clothes at all, affect the 
brightest colors. The jungle is dense, tigers abound, and 
men, women, and children are almost daily killed and 
eaten by them. 

It is easy to divine the merchantable products of the 
island from the nature of the articles which are seen piled 
up for shipment upon the wharves, consisting of tapioca, 
cocoanut oil, gambia, tin ore, indigo, tiger-skins, coral, 
gutta-percha, hides, gums, and camphor. 

There is no winter or autumn here, no sere and yellow 
leaf period, but seemingly a perpetual spring, with a tem- 
perature almost unvarNnng ; new leaves always swelling 



40 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

from the bud, flowers always in bloom, the sun rising and 
setting within five minutes of six o'clock during the entire 
year. Singapore enjoys a soft breeze most of the day 
from across the Bay of Bengal, laden with fragrant sweet- 
ness from the spice-fields of Ceylon. 

Each place we visit has its pecuhar local pictures. Here, 
small hump-backed oxen are seen driven about at a lively 
trot in place of horses. Pedlers roam the streets selling 
drinking-water, with soup, fruit, and a jelly made from sugar 
and sea-weed, called agar-agar. Native houses are built 
upon stilts to keep out the snakes and tigers. The better 
class of people wear scarlet turbans and white cotton 
skirts ; others have parti-colored shawls round their heads, 
while yellow scarfs confine a cotton wrap about the waist. 
Diminutive horses drag heavy loads, though themselves 
scarcely bigger than large dogs. Itinerant cooks, wearing 
a wooden yoke about their necks, with a cooking apparatus 
on one end, and a little table to balance it on the other, 
serve meals of fish and rice upon the streets to laborers and 
boatmen, for a couple of pennies each. Money has here, 
as in most Eastern countries, a larger purchasing power 
than it has with us in the West. The variety of fruit is 
greater than in China or Japan, and there are one or two 
species, such as the delicious mangosteen, which are found 
indigenous in no other region. 

The stranger, upon landing at Singapore, is hardly pre- 
pared to find such excellent modern institutions a.s exist 
here. Among them are an attractive museum, a public 
library, a Protestant cathedral, a hospital, public schools, 
and a fine botanical garden. The island belongs to the 
English government, having been purchased by it so long 
ago as 1 8 19, from the Sultan of Johore, — wise forethought, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 4 1 

showing its importance as a port of call between England 
and India. 

A two days' sail through waters which seem at night like 
a sea of phosphorescence, every ripple producing flashes 
of light, will take us to the island of Penang, the most 
northerly port of the Straits. It resembles Singapore in 
its people, vegetation, and climate, enjoying one long, un- 
varying summer. While the birds and butterflies are in 
perfect harmony with the loveliness of nature, while the 
flowers are glorious in beauty and in fragrance, man alone 
seems out of place in this region. Indolent, dirty, unclad, 
he does nothing to improve such wealth of possibilities as 
nature spreads broadcast only in equatorial islands. He 
does little for himself, nothing for others, while the sensu- 
ous life he leads poisons his nature, so that virtue and vice 
have no relative meaning for him. We speak now of the 
masses, the common people. Noble exceptions always 
exist. In size Penang is a little smaller than Singapore. 
Its wooded hills of vivid greenness rise above the town and 
surrounding sea in graceful undulations, growing more and 
more lofty as they recede inland, until they culminate in 
three mountain peaks. Penang is separated from the 
mainland by a narrow belt of sea not more than three 
miles wide, giving it a position of great commercial im- 
portance. 

The areca-palm, known as the Penang-tree, is the source 
of the betel-nut, which is chewed by the natives as a 
stimulant ; and as it abounds on the island, it has given it 
the name it bears. The town covers about a square mile, 
through which runs one broad, main street, intersected by 
lesser thoroughfares at right angles. A drive about the 
place gives us an idea that it is a thrifty town, but not 



42 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

nearly so populous as Singapore. It is also observable 
that the Chinese element predominates here. The main 
street is lined by shops kept by them. The front of the 
dwellings being open, gives the passer-by a full view of all 
that may be going on inside the household. Shrines are 
nearly always seen in some nook or corner, before which 
incense is burning, this shrine-room evidently being also 
the sleeping, eating, and living room. The islands of 
Penang and Singapore are free from malarial fevers, and 
probably no places on earth are better adapted to the 
wants of primitive man, for they produce spontaneously 
sufficient nutritious food to support life independent of 
personal exertion. The home of the Malay is not so clean 
as that of the ant or the birds ; even the burrowing 
animals are neater. The native women are graceful and 
almost pretty, slight in figure, and passionately fond of 
ornaments, covering their arms and ankles with metallic 
rings, and thrusting silver and brass rings through their 
ears, noses, and lips. 

The cocoanut-tree is always in bearing on the islands of 
the Straits, and requires no cultivation. Of the many 
liberal gifts bestowed upon the tropics, this tree is perhaps 
the most valuable. The Asiatic poet celebrates in verse 
the hundred uses to which the trunk, the branches, the 
leaves, the fruit, and the sap are applied. In Penang a 
certain number of these trees are not permitted to bear 
fruit. The embryo bud from which the blossoms and nuts 
would spring is tied up to prevent its expansion ; a small 
incision then being made at the end, there oozes in gentle 
drops a pleasant liquor called toddy, which is the palm 
wine of the poet. This, when it is first drawn, is cooling 
and wholesome, but when it is fermented it produces a 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 43 

strong, intoxicating spirit. The banana is equally prolific 
and abundant, and forms a very large portion of the food 
of the common people. In the immediate neighborhood 
of the town are some plantations conducted by Europeans 
who live in neat cottages, with enclosures of cultivated 
flowers, and orchards of fruit-trees. Still further inland 
are large gardens of bread-fruit, nutmegs, cinnamon, pepper, 
and other spices. There are also large fields of sugar-cane, 
tobacco, and coffee. The delicate little sensitive plant 
here grows wild, and is equally tremulous and subsiding at 
the etouch of human hands, as it is with us. Lilies are 
seen in wonderful variety, the stems covered with butter- 
flies nearly as large as humming-birds. 

Penang originally belonged to the Malay kingdom, but 
about the year 1786 it was given to an English sea-captain 
as a marriage-portion with the King of Keddah's daughter, 
and by him, in course of time, it was transferred to the 
East India Company. When Captain Francis Light re- 
ceived it with his dusky bride, it was the wild, uncultivated 
home of a few hundred fishermen. To-day it has a popu- 
lation of nearly a hundred thousand. 



44 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER IV. 

OUR course now lies across the Indian Ocean, west- 
ward. The rains which we encounter are like floods, 
but the air is soft and balmy, and the deluges are of brief 
continuance. The nights are serene and bright, so that it 
is delightful to lie awake upon the deck of the steamer 
and watch the stars now and then screened by the fleecy 
clouds. In the daytime it is equally interesting to ob- 
serve the ocean. Large sea-turtles come to the surface 
to sun themselves, stretching their awkward necks to get 
a sight of our hull ; dolphins and flying-fish are too abun- 
dant to be a curiosity ; big water-snakes raise their slimy 
heads a couple of feet above the sea ; the tiny nautilus 
floats in myriads upon the undulating waves, and at times 
the ship is surrounded by a shoal of the indolent jelly-fish. 
Mirage plays. us strange tricks in the way of optical delu- 
sion in these regions. We seem to be approaching land 
which we never reach, but which at the moment when we 
should fairly make it, fades into thin air. 

Though the ocean covers more than three-quarters of 
the globe, but few of us realize that it represents more of 
life than does the land. We are indebted to it for every 
drop of water distributed over our hills, plains, and valleys ; 
for from the ocean it has arisen by evaporation to return 
again through myriads of channels. It is really a mis- 
nomer to speak of the sea as a desert waste ; it is teeming 
with inexhaustible animal and vegetable life. A German 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 45 

scientist has with unwearied industry secured and classi- 
fied over nine hundred species of fishes from this division 
of the Indian Ocean over which our course takes us. 
Many of these are characterized by colors as dazzling 
and various as those of gaudy-plumed tropical birds and 
flowers. 

Our next objective point is Colombo, the capital of 
Ceylon, situated about thirteen hundred miles from the 
mouth of the Malacca Straits. Here we find several large 
steamships in the harbor, stopping briefly on their way to 
or from China, India, or Australia ; and no sooner do we 
come to anchor than we are surrounded by the canoes of 
the natives. They are of very peculiar construction, be- 
ing designed to enable the occupants to venture out, how- 
ever rough the water may chance to be, and the surf is 
always raging in these open roadsteads. The canoes con- 
sist of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, some twenty feet 
in length, having long planks fastened lengthwise so as to 
form the sides or gunwales of the boat, which is a couple 
of feet deep and about as wide. An outrigger, consisting 
of a log of wood about one-third as long as the canoe, is 
fastened alongside at a distance of six or eight feet, by 
means of two arched poles of well-seasoned bamboo. This 
outrigger prevents any possibility of upsetting the boat, but 
without it so narrow a craft could not remain upright, even 
in a calm sea. The natives face any weather in these 
little vessels. 

It will be remembered that to this island England 
banished Arabi Pacha after the sanguinary battlefield of 
Tel-el-Keber. It is one of the most interesting spots in 
the East, having been in its prime centuries before the 
birth of Christ. It was perhaps the Ophir of the Hebrews, 



46 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and it still abounds in precious stones and mineral wealth. 
Here we observe the native women strangely decked with 
cheap jewelry thrust through the tops and lobes of their 
ears, in their lips and nostrils, while about their necks hang 
ornaments consisting of bright sea-shells, mingled with 
sharks' teeth. If we go into the jungle, we find plenty of 
ebony, satin-wood, bamboo, fragrant balsam, and india- 
rubber trees ; we see the shady pools covered with the 
lotus of fable and poetry, resembling huge pond-lilies ; we 
behold brilliant flowers growing in tall trees, and others, 
very sweet and lowly, blooming beneath our feet. Vivid 
colors flash before our eyes, caused by the blue, yellow, 
and scarlet plumage of the feathered tribe. Parrots and 
paroquets are seen in hundreds. Storks, ibises, and 
herons fly lazily over the lagoons, and the gorgeous pea- 
cock is seen in his wild condition. The elephant is also 
a native here, and occasionally hunts are organized upon 
a grand scale and at great expense by English sportsmen 
who come here for the purpose, and who pay a heavy fee 
for a license. 

Ceylon lies just off the southern point of India; and 
though it is a British colony, its government is quite dis- 
tinct from that of the mainland. It forms a station for a 
large number of troops, and is about three times the size 
of Massachusetts. 

Many of the native women are employed by the large 
number of English families resident here, especially by 
officers' wives, as nurses. These last seem to form a class 
by themselves, and they dress in the most peculiar manner, 
as we see the children's nurses dressed in Rome, Paris, 
and Madrid. The Singhalese nurses wear a single white 
linen garment covering the body to the knees, very low in 




To face p. 47. ^ SINGHALESE DANCER. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 47 

the neck, with a bhie cut-away velvet jacket covered with 
silver braid and buttons and open in front, a scarlet silk 
sash gathering the under-garment at the waist. The legs 
and feet are bare, the ankles covered with bangles, or or-" 
naniental rings, and the ears heavily weighed down and 
deformed with rings of silver and gold. 

The vegetation of Ceylon is what might be expected of 
an island within so few miles of the equator ; that is, 
beautiful and prolific in the extreme. The cinnamon fields 
are so thrifty as to form a wilderness of green, though the 
bushes grow but four or five feet in height. The cinnamon 
bush, which is a native here, is a species of laurel, and 
bears a white, scentless flower, scarcely as large as a pea. 
The spice of commerce is produced from the inner bark of 
the shrub, the branches of which are cut and peeled twice 
annually. The plantations resemble a thick, tangled 
undergrowth of wood, without any regularity, and are not 
cultivated after being properly started. Ceylon was at 
one time a great producer of coffee, and still exports the 
berry, but a disease which attacked the leaves of the shrub 
has nearly discouraged the planters. Among the wild ' 
animals are elephants, deer, monkeys, bears, and panthers 
— fine specimens of which are preserved in the excellent 
museum at Colombo. Pearl oysters are found on the coast, 
and some magnificent pearls are sent to Paris and London. 

The bread-fruit tree is especially interesting, with its 
feathery leaves, and its melon-shaped fruit, weighing from 
three to four pounds. This, the natives prepare in many 
ways for eating, and as the tree bears fruit continually for 
nine months of the year, it forms a most important food- 
supply. Two or three trees will afford nourishment for a 
hearty man, and half a dozen well cared for will sustain 



48 FO 7 -PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

a small family, a portion of the fruit being dried and kept 
for the non-producing months. Banana groves, and or- 
chards bending under the weight of the rich, nutritious 
fruit, tall cocoanut-trees with half a ton of ripening nuts in 
each tufted top, ant-hills nearly as high as native houses, 
rippling cascades, small rivers winding through the green 
valleys, and flowers of every hue and shape, together with 
birds such as one sees preserved in northern museums, — 
all these crowd upon our vision as we wander about inland. 

Ceylon is rich in prehistoric monuments, showing that 
there once existed here a great and powerful empire, and 
leading us to wonder what could have swept a population 
of millions from the face of the globe and have left no 
clearer record of their past. The carved pillars, skilfully 
wrought, now scattered through the forest, and often over- 
grown by mammoth trees, attest both material greatness 
and far-reaching antiquity. It would seem as though 
nature had tried to cover up the wrinkles of age with 
blooming and thrifty vegetation. 

We embark at Colombo for Adelaide, the capital of 
South Australia, steering a course south by east through 
the Indian Ocean for a distance of about thirty-five hun- 
dred miles. On this voyage we find the nights so bright 
and charming that hours together are passed upon the 
open deck studying the stars. Less than two thousand 
can be counted from a ship's deck by the naked eye, but with 
an opera-glass or telescope the number can be greatly in- 
creased. Among the most interesting constellations of the 
region through which we are now passing, is the Southern 
Cross. For those not familiar with its location, a good 
way to find the Cross is to remember that there are two 
prominent stars in the group known as Centaurus that 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 49 

point directly towards it. That farthest from the Cross is 
regarded as one of the fixed stars nearest to the earth, but 
its distance from us is twenty thousand times that of the 
sun. Stellar distances can be realized only by familiar 
comparison. For instance : were it possible for a person 
to journey to the sun in a single day, basing the calculation 
upon a corresponding degree of speed, it would require 
fifty-five years to reach this fixed star ! Probably not one- 
half of those who have sailed beneath its tranquil beauty 
are aware that near the upper middle of the cross there is 
a brilliant cluster of stars which, though not visible to the 
naked eye, are brought into view with the telescope. In 
these far southern waters w^ also see what are called the 
Magellanic Clouds, which lie between Canopus and the 
South Pole. These light clouds, or what seem to be such, 
seen in a clear sky, are, like the " Milky Way," visible neb- 
ulas, or star-clusters, at such vast distance from the earth 
as to have by combination this effect upon our vision. 

At sea the stars assume perhaps a greater importance 
than on land, because from them, together with the sun, is 
obtained latitude and longitude, and thus by their aid the 
mariner determines his bearings upon the ocean. Forty 
or fifty centuries ago the Chaldean shepherds were accus- 
tomed to gaze upon these shining orbs in worshipful ad- 
miration, but with no idea of their vast system. They 
were to them "the words of God, the scriptures of the 
skies." It has been left to our period to formulate the 
methods of their constant and endless procession. All of 
the principal stars are now well known, and their limits 
clearly defined upon charts, so that we can easily acquire a 
knowledge of them. The inhabitants of North America 
have the constellation of Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, 



50 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and the North Star always with them ; they never wholly 
disappear below the horizon. When the mariner sailing 
north of the equator has determined the position of the 
"Great Bear," two of whose stars, known as "the pointers," 
indicate the North Star, he can designate all points of the 
compass unerringly. But in the far South Sea they are 
not visible ; other constellations, however, whose relative 
positions are as fixed in the Southern Hemisphere, become 
equally sure guides to the watchful navigator. 

Having landed in Australia, before proceeding to visit 
the several cities of this great island-continent which pos- 
sesses an area of nearly three millions of square miles, let 
us review some general facts and characteristics of the 
country. So far as we can learn, it was a land unknown 
to the ancients, though it is more than probable that the 
Chinese knew of the existence of Northern Australia at a 
very early period ; but until about a century ago, it pre- 
sented only a picture of primeval desolation. The hard 
work of the pioneer has been accomplished, and civilization 
has rapidly changed the aspect of a large portion of the great 
south land. To-day this continent is bordered by thrifty 
seaports connected by railroads, coasting-steamers, turn- 
pikes, and electric telegraphs. It is occupied by an intelli- 
gent European population numbering between three and 
four millions, possessing such elements of political and 
social prosperity as place them in an honorable position 
in the line of progressive nations. So favorable is the 
climate that nearly the whole country might be turned 
into a botanical garden. Indeed, Australia would seem to 
be better entitled to the name of Eldorado (a mythical 
country abounding in gold), so talked of in the sixteenth 
century, than was the imaginary land of untold wealth so 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 5 I 

confidently believed by the adventurous Spaniards, to exist 
somewhere between the Orinoco and the Amazon. 

This new home of the British race in the South Pacific, 
surrounded by accessible seas and inviting harbors, in- 
spires us with vivid interest. We say "new," and yet, geo- 
logically speaking, it is one of the oldest portions of the 
earth's surface. While a great part of Europe has been sub- 
merged and elevated, crumpled up as it were into moun- 
tain chains, Australia seems to have been undisturbed. 
It is remarkable that in a division of the globe of such 
colossal proportions there was found no larger quadruped 
than the kangaroo, and that man was the only animal that 
destroyed his kind. He, alas ! was more ferocious than 
the lynx, the leopard, or the hyena ; for these animals do 
not prey upon each other, while the aborigines of Australia 
devoured one another. 

What America was to Spain in the proud days of that 
nation's glory Australia has been to England, and that too, 
without the crime of wholesale murder, and the spilling of 
rivers of blood, as was the case in the days of Cortez and 
Pizarro. The wealth poured into the lap of England by 
these far-away colonies belittles all the riches which the 
Spaniards realized by the conquests of Mexico and Peru. 
Here is an empire won without war, a new world called 
into existence, as it were, by moral forces, an Eldorado cap- 
tured without the sword. Here, Nature has spread her 
generous favors over a land only one-fifth smaller than the 
whole continent of Europe, granting every needed resource 
wherewith to form a great, independent, and prosperous 
nation ; where labor is already more liberally rewarded, and 
life more easily sustained, than in any other civilized coun- 
try except America. It is difificult to believe while observ- 



52 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ing the present population, wealth, power, and prosperity 
of the country at large, characterized by such grand and 
conspicuous elements of empire, that it has been settled 
for so brief a period, and that its pioneers were from Eng- 
lish prisons. The authentic record of life in the colonies 
of Australia and Tasmania during the first few years of 
their existence, is mainly the account of the control of 
lawless men by the strong and cruel arm of military des- 
potism. 

Up to the present writing Australia has realized from 
her soil over three hundred and thirty millions of pounds 
sterling, or ^1,650,000,000. Her territory gives grazing at 
the present time to over seventy-five million sheep, which 
is probably double the number in the United States. 
When it is remembered that the population of this country 
is sixty millions, and that Australia has not quite four 
millions, the force of this comparison becomes obvious. 
The aggregate amount of wool exported to the mother 
country is twenty-eight times as much as England has re- 
ceived in the same period from the continent of Europe. 
The combined exports and imports of the United King- 
dom of Great Britain and Ireland are a little over one 
hundred dollars per annum for each one of the population. 
In Australia the aggregate is a trifle over two hundred 
dollars per head. The four principal capitals of Australia 
contain over eight hundred thousand inhabitants. The 
railroads of the country have already cost over two hundred 
million dollars, and are being extended annually. New 
South Wales has in proportion to its population a greater 
length of railways than any other country in the world, 
while there are some thirty thousand miles of telegraph 
lines within the length and breadth of the land. 



» JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 53 

The country is divided into five provincial governments : 
New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, 
and West Australia. The island of Tasmania forms another 
province, and is separated from Victoria by Bass's Strait, 
the two being within half a day's sail of each other. 
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales ; Melbourne, 
of Victoria ; Adelaide, of South Australia ; Brisbane, of 
Queensland ; Perth, of West Australia ; and Hobart, of 
Tasmania. It may be remarked incidentally that South 
Australia would more properly be designated by some 
other title, as it is not South Australia at all. Victoria 
lies south of it, and so does a portion of West Australia. 
The government of these several divisions is modelled 
upon that of New South Wales, which is in fact the 
parent colony of them all. 

New South Wales is governed under a constitution, 
having two houses of Parliament. The first, a legislative 
council, is composed of a limited number of members 
nominated by the Crown, and who hold office for life ; the 
second, or legislative assembly, is composed of members 
elected by the people and chosen by ballot. All acts, 
before becoming law, must receive the approval of the 
Queen of England, though this is nothing more than a 
mere form. There is a resident governor in each colony, 
also appointed by the Queen. 

As compared with our own land, we find this to be one 
of strange contradictions. Here, the eagles are white and 
the swans are black ; the emu, a bird almost as large as 
an ostrich, cannot fly, but runs like a horse. The princi- 
pal quadruped, the kangaroo, is elsewhere unknown ; and 
though he has four legs, he runs upon two. When the 
days are longest with us in America, they are shortest 



54 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

here. To reach the tropics, Austrahans go due-north, 
while we go due-south. With us the seed, or stone, of the 
cherry forms the centre of the fruit ; in AustraUa, the 
stone grows on the outside. The foliage of the trees in 
America spreads out horizontally; in this south-land the 
leaves hang vertically. When it is day with us it is night 
with them. There, Christmas comes in mid-summer ; with 
us in mid-winter. Bituminous and anthracite coal are with 
us only one color, — black ; but they have white bitumi- 
nous coal, — white as chalk. The majority of trees with us 
shed their leaves in the fall of the year ; with them they 
are evergreen, shedding their bark and not their leaves. 

Adelaide is situated about seven miles from the sea, and 
is surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills rearing their 
abrupt forms not far away from the town. The capital is 
so perfectly level that to be seen to advantage it must be 
looked upon from some favorable elevation. The colony 
should be known as Central Australia, on account of its 
geographical position. It is destined in the near future to 
merit the name of the granary of the country, being already 
largely and successfully devoted to agriculture. This pur- 
suit is followed in no circumscribed manner, but in a large 
and liberal style, like that of our best Western farmers in 
the United States. Immense tracts of land are also 
devoted to stock-raising for the purpose of furnishing beef 
for shipment to England in fresh condition. This province 
contains nearly a million square miles, and is therefore 
ten times larger than Victoria, and fifteen times larger 
than England. It extends northward from the temperate 
zone, so that nearly one-half of its area lies within the 
tropics, while it has a coast-line of five hundred miles along 
the great Southern Ocean. A vast portion of its interior 



yOURNEYINGS IN MAjVV LANDS. 55 

is uninhabited, and indeed unexplored. The total popula- 
tion of the whole colony is about four hundred thousand. 
Wheat, wool, wine, copper, and meat are at present the 
chief exports. Over four million acres of land are under 
the plough. Though gold is found here, it is not so abun- 
dant as in other sections of the country. Good wages 
equalling those realized by the average miners are earned 
by a dozen easier and more legitimate occupations than 
that of gold-digging. " Let us cherish no delusions," said 
a San Francisco preacher on a certain occasion ; " no 
society has ever been able to organize itself in a satisfac- 
tory manner on gold-bearing soil. Even Nature herself is 
deceitful ; she corrupts, seduces, and betrays man ; she 
laughs at his labor, she turns his toil into gambling, and 
his word into a lie ! " The preacher's deductions have 
proved true as regards bodies of miners in California, 
South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. And yet the 
finding of gold mines has stimulated labor, immigration, 
and manly activity in many directions, and has thus been 
the agent of undoubted good in other fields than its own. 

Adelaide, with a population of a hundred and fifty thou- 
sand, has a noble university, quite equal in standing to 
that of any city in the country. When we remember how 
youthful she is, it becomes a matter of surprise that such 
a condition has been achieved in all the appointments 
which go to make up a great city in modern times. The 
same remark applies to all of the Australian capitals, none 
of which are deficient in hospitals, libraries, schools, asy- 
lums, art galleries, and charitable institutions generally. 
Few European cities of twice the size of these in Australia 
can boast a more complete organization in all that goes to 
promote true civilization. 



56 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The city proper is separated from its suburbs by a belt 
of park-lands, and the approaches are lined with thrifty 
ornamental trees. Great liberality and good judgment 
presided over the laying out of Adelaide. All the streets 
are broad and regular, running north and south, east and 
west. There are no mysterious labyrinths, dark lanes, or 
blind alleys in the city ; the avenues are all uniform in 
width. It is beheved that the interior of the continent, 
which is largely embraced within this province, was at a 
comparatively recent period covered by a great inland sea. 
Here are still found mammoth bones of animals, now ex- 
tinct, which have become an object of careful study to 
scientists. Africa's interior is scarcely less explored than 
is Central Australia. There are thousands of square miles 
upon which the foot of a white man has never trod. Tar- 
tary has its steppes, America its prairies, Egypt its des- 
erts, and Australia its "scrub." The plains, so called, are 
covered by a low-growing bush, compact and almost im- 
penetrable in places, composed of a dwarf eucalyptus. 
The ajDpearance of a large reach of this "scrub" is deso- 
late indeed, the underlying soil being a sort of yellow sand 
which one would surely think could produce nothing else ; 
yet, wherever this land has been cleared and properly irri- 
gated it has proved to be remarkably fertile. 

All of these colonial cities have botanical gardens, in 
the cultivation and arrangement of which much skill and 
scientific knowledge is displayed. In that of Adelaide we 
see the Australian bottle-tree, which is a native of this 
country only. It receives its name from its resemblance 
in shape to a junk-bottle. This tree has the property of 
storing water in its hollow trunk, — a well-known fact, 
which has often proved a providential supply for thirsty 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 57 

travellers in a country so liable to severe drought. Here, 
also, we see the correa, with its stiff stem and prickly- 
leaves, bearing a curious string of delicate, pendulous 
flowers, red, orange, and white, not unlike the fuchsia in 
form. The South Sea myrtle is especially attractive, ap- 
pearing when in flower with round clustering bunches of 
bloom, spangled with white stars. The styphelia, a heath- 
like plant, surprises us with its green flowers. We are 
shown a specimen of the sandrach-tree, brought from 
Africa, which is almost imperishable, and from which the 
Mohammedans invariably make the ceilings of their 
mosques. The Indian cotton-tree looms up beside the 
South American aloe — this last, with its thick, bayonet- 
like leaves, is ornamented in wavy lines like the surface of 
a Toledo blade. The grouping of these exotics, natives 
of regions so far apart on the earth's surface, yet quite 
domesticated here, forms an incongruous though pleasing 
picture. 

West Austraha, of which Perth is the capital, is eight 
hundred miles in width and thirteen hundred long from 
north to south, actually covering about one-third of the 
continent. It embraces all that portion lying to the west- 
ward of the one hundred and twenty-ninth meridian of 
east longitude, and has an area of about a million square 
miles. It has few towns and is very sparsely settled, 
Perth having scarcely eleven thousand inhabitants, and 
the whole province a population of not over forty-two 
thousand. Pearl oysters abound upon its coast and form 
the principal export, being most freely gathered near 
Torres' s Strait, which separates Australia from New Guinea. 
The latter is the largest island in the world, being three 
hundred and sixty miles in width by thirteen hundred in 



58 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

length. Its natives are considered the most barbarous of 
any savages of the nineteenth century. 

From Adelaide to Melbourne is about six hundred miles, 
a distance accomplished by railway. The first sight of Mel- 
bourne will surprise the stranger, though he may be fairly 
well-informed about this capital of Victoria. No one an- 
ticipates beholding so grand a capital in this far-away region 
of the Pacific. Where there was only a swamp and un- 
cleared woods a few years ago, there has risen a city con- 
taining to-day a population of four hundred and twenty 
thousand, embracing the immediate suburbs. This capital 
is unsurpassed by any of the British colonies in the ele- 
gancies and luxuries of modern civilization, such as broad 
avenues, palatial dwellings, churches, colossal warehouses, 
banks, theatres, public buildings, and pleasure grounds. 
It is pleasant to record the fact that one-fifth of the 
revenue raised by taxation is expended for educational 
purposes. Of few cities in the new or the old world can 
this be truthfully said. Universities, libraries, public art- 
galleries, and museums do not lack for the liberal and fos- 
tering care of the government. No city, if we except 
Chicago and San Francisco, ever attained to such size 
and importance in so short a period as has Melbourne. 

The river Yarra-Yarra runs through the town, and is 
navigable for large vessels to the main wharves, where it 
is crossed by a broad and substantial bridge. Above the 
bridge the river is handsomely ornamented with trees upon 
its borders ; here the great boat-races take place, one of 
the most popular of all local athletic amusements, and Mel- 
bourne is famous for out-door sports of every form, espe- 
cially ball-playing. 

The activity of the streets is remarkable. English 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 59 

cabs rattle about or stand in long rows awaiting patrons ; 
four-wheeled vehicles of an awkward style, also for hire, 
abound ; messenger-boys with yellow leather pouches 
strapped over their shoulders hurry hither and thither ; 
high-hung omnibuses with three horses abreast, like those 
of Paris and Naples, dash rapidly along, well filled with 
passengers ; men gallop through the crowd on horseback, 
carrying big baskets of provisions on their arms ; dog-carts, 
driven by smart young fellows with a servant behind them 
in gaudy livery, cut in and out among the vehicles ; pow- 
erful draught-horses stamp along the way, drawing heavily- 
laden drays ; milk-carts with big letters on their canvas 
sides make themselves conspicuous, and so do the bakers' 
carts ; while light and neat American wagonettes glide 
rapidly along among less attractive vehicles. Now and 
then a Chinaman passes, with his peculiar shambling gait, 
with a pole across his shoulders balancing his baskets of 
"truck"; women with oranges and bananas for a penny 
apiece meet one at every corner, and still the sidewalks 
are so broad, and the streets so wide, that no one seems to 
be in the least incommoded. The fruit stores present a 
remarkable array of tempting fruits, among which are the 
mandarin and seedless oranges, apricots, green figs, grapes, 
passion-fruit, pineapples, bananas, and many others, all in 
fine condition. With the exception of the cities of Cali- 
fornia, nowhere else can fruit of such choice varieties and 
so cheap be found as at Melbourne. 

Victoria is one of the youngest of the colonies, and 
was, until the discovery of gold fields within her borders, 
— that is, in 185 1, — a portion of New South Wales; but 
to-day it is the metropolis of Australia. It has not the 
many natural beauties of Sydney, but it has numerous 



6o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

compensating advantages, and is the real centre of colonial 
enterprise upon the continent. The admirable system of 
street-cars in Melbourne is worthy of all praise, use being 
made of the underground cable and stationary engine as a 
motor, a mode which is cheap, cleanly, and popular. Col- 
lins Street is the fashionable boulevard of the city, though 
Burke Street nearly rivals it in gay promenaders and ele- 
gant shops. But in broad contrast to these bright and 
cheerful centres, there are in the northeastern section of 
the town dirty alleys and by-ways that one would think 
must prove hot-beds of disease and pestilence, especially 
as Melbourne suffers from want of a good and thorough 
system of domestic drainage. 

The public library of the city is a large and impressive 
building, standing by itself, a hundred feet back from the 
street, on rising ground, and would be creditable to any 
European or American city. It already contains about a 
hundred and thirty thousand volumes, and is being con- 
stantly added to by public and private bequests. The in- 
terior arrangements of the library are excellent, affording 
ample room for books and all needed accommodation for 
the public. In these respects it is superior to both the 
Boston and Astor libraries. Under the same roof is a 
museum containing an extensive collection, especially of 
geological specimens, mostly of native product. 

Melbourne has its Chinese quarter, like Sydney and 
San Francisco ; it is situated in Little Burke Street, just 
back of the Theatre Royal, and forms a veritable China- 
town, with its idol temples, opium dens, lottery cellars, 
cafes, low hovels, and kindred establishments. Here, one 
requires an experienced guide to enable him to make his 
way safely and understandingly. The peculiar notices 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 6 1 

posted upon the buildings in Chinese characters are a 
puzzle to the uninitiated. The signs over the shops are 
especially original and peculiar ; they do not denote the 
name of the owner, or particularize the business which 
is carried on within, but are assumed titles of a flowery 
character, designed to attract the fancy of the customers. 
Thus : Kong, Meng & Co. means " Bright Light Firm " 
Sun Kum Lee & Co. is in English "New Golden Firm" 
Kwong Hop signifies " New Agreement Company " ; H 
Cheong, "Peace and Prosperity Firm"; Kwong Tu Tye, 
" Flourishing and Peaceful Company" ; and so on. 

It is, as a rule, the worst type of the Chinese who leave 
their native land to make a new home elsewhere, and it is 
not to be expected that they will be much improved by 
intercourse with the Australian "larrikins," who are com- 
posed of the lowest and most criminal orders. This refuse 
of humanity is largely made up of the rabble of London 
and Liverpool, many of whom have had their passages 
paid by relatives and interested persons at home solely to 
get rid of them, while others have worked their passage 
hither to avoid merited punishment for crimes committed 
in Ensrland. 



62 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER V. 

THE province of Victoria is the special gold-field of 
Australia, and has produced two-thirds of all the 
precious metal which statistics credit to the country at 
large. One of the localities which has proved to be the 
most prolific in gold is Ballarat, now a charming and popu- 
lous city, next to Melbourne in importance. It lies nearly 
a hundred miles north of the capital, at an elevation of 
fifteen hundred feet above sea-level, and is accessible by 
railway. This is thought to be the centre of the richest 
gold-producing district in the world. Beechworth, one 
hundred and seventy miles northeast of Melbourne, at an 
elevation higher than that of Ballarat, is nearly as populous, 
and as prolific in the precious metal. The diggings of 
Maryborough district, situated a hundred and fifty miles 
northwest of Melbourne, are famous, and give occupation 
to some eight thousand miners. Castlemaine, seventy-five 
miles north of the capital, has proved very profitable in its 
yield of gold. Nearly forty square miles of gold-bearing 
lands are being worked by Europeans and Chinese in the 
district of Ararat, a hundred and fifty miles north of Mel- 
bourne. From these several sources of mineral wealth 
there flows constantly towards the capital a stream of 
riches, making it probably the greatest gold-producing 
centre on the globe. There are about fifty thousand peo- 
ple, in all, engaged in gold-mining in the several parts of 
Victoria, at least ten thousand of whom are Chinese. Still, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 63 

reliable statistics show that in the aggregate, the corn and 
wool of this province are alone of more monetary value 
than is the result from all the gold produced by her mines. 

The kangaroos are found in various parts of Victoria, in 
their wild state. They are usually discovered in the thick 
woods, sitting upright in circles of a dozen or more, as grave 
as though engaged in holding a formal council. On such 
occasions their short forepaws hang Hmp before them, 
while their restless heads and delicate ears turn hither and 
thither in watchful care against surprise. Notwithstanding 
their huge paunches, big hindquarters, and immense tails, 
there is something graceful and attractive about these crea- 
tures. When they are young they are as playful as kittens. 
Even when running away from pursuit, — a process per- 
formed by enormous leaps, often covering a rod at a 
flying jump, — there is a certain airy grace and harmony 
of movement attending their motions. Dogs and horses 
have more power of endurance than the kangaroo, and are 
thus enabled to run it down ; but neither horse nor dog 
can achieve the same degree of speed for moderate dis- 
tances. If the chase occurs in a wood where there are 
numerous obstacles, like heavy fallen logs, the kangaroo is 
safe, since he can jump all such impediments without 
diminishing his speed. 

To get a view of the big gum-trees, one visits the Fern- 
shaw Mountain district. We are told of one fallen mon- 
arch, which was measured by a government surveyor, 
having a length upon the ground of four hundred and 
seventy-four feet. The Pyramid of Cheops is hardly as high 
as was this tree when it stood erect. The average height 
of these marvels is from three hundred to four hundred 
feet. They are situated in a valley protected from winds, 



64 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and are favorably located to promote their growth, as well 
as to protect them from sudden gales or tornadoes such as 
have prostrated large trees in our Yosemite. 

The subject of large trees is one of more than ordinary 
interest ; the largest one known in the world is situated in 
Mascoli, near the base of Mount Etna, on the island of 
Sicily. It measures one hundred and ninety feet in cir- 
cumference. It is a chestnut-tree, and still bears fruit in 
abundance. The oldest tree is believed to be a famous 
cypress still growing in Oaxaca, Mexico. Humboldt saw it 
in 1855, when he recorded the measurement as being 
one hundred and twenty-six feet in circumference and 
three hundred and eighty-two feet between the out-spread 
branches. In Nevada, United States, stands what is 
well known as the " Dead Giant Redwood Tree," which 
measures one hundred and nineteen feet in circumference, 
and which is believed to have been growing in the days of 
Julius Caesar. Near this mammoth are a dozen other 
trees, varying in size from seventy-five to one hundred feet 
in circumference. The "Grizzly Giant," monarch of the 
Mariposa Grove in California, measures ninety-two feet in 
circumference. The largest tree in the United States 
stands near Bear Creek, California, measuring one hundred 
and forty feet in circumference. It is only by comparison 
with familiar objects that we can realize these extraordi- 
nary dimensions. 

We shall be pretty sure to see in the woods of Victoria 
a most curious example of bird-life and bird-instinct, in the 
instance of what is known as the bower-bird. This pecu- 
liar little creature builds a cunning play-house, a tiny shady 
bower which it ornaments with vines and highly colored 
feathers of other birds, besides the yellow blossoms of the 




EMU HUNTING IN AUSTRALIA, 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 65 

wattle-tree and many light-green ferns. In this ingen- 
iously contrived sylvan retreat the feathered architect runs 
about and holds a sort of carnival, to which others of his 
tribe gather. Here the little party chirp vigorously, and 
strut about in a most ludicrous manner. 

The glamour of gold-seeking has too much weight in 
inducing emigration to this region of the South Seas. An 
industrious and worthy person is sure to make a good liv- 
ing here, and indeed so one might say he would do almost 
anywhere. He may make a fortune in Australia, but he 
cannot //<:/& it up, — he must zvork it up. The gold nug- 
gets which are occasionally found, never amount to much as 
regards the benefit of the finder. It is upon the whole a 
fortunate day for the respectable immigrant who has any 
degree of ability, when he decides to turn his back upon gold- 
*digging, and adopt some more legitimate business. The 
great elements of success are the same in Australia as in 
California, Africa, or Massachusetts ; namely, steadiness of 
purpose, application, and temperance. 

Sydney is connected with Melbourne by a railway some 
six hundred miles in length ; but the pleasantest way to 
reach it, either from the north or the south, is by water. 
We enter the harbor through an opening which is called 
Sydney Heads, formed by two frowning cliffs on either side 
of the entrance. Having left the Heads behind, we pass 
Botany Bay, seven miles below the city, once a penal col- 
ony for English convicts, but now a lovely, rural retreat, 
which retains nothing of its ill-repute but its name. The 
aspect of the famous harbor, with its lake-like expanse, its 
many green islands with handsome residences scattered 
over them, its graceful promontories, and the abundance of 
semi-tropical vegetation, all together form the loveliest pic- 



66 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ture imaginable. It may well be the pride of the citizens 
of Sydney. 

Upon landing, we find great irregularity prevailing in the 
street architecture. George Street is the main thorough- 
fare, and is two miles in length, containing many stores fur- 
nished as well as the average of those in Vienna or Paris. 
There are fine business edifices, having massive French 
plate glass windows which are admirably appointed. The 
peculiar conformation of the town makes the side streets 
precipitous, so that a large portion of the city is composed 
of hilly avenues. Like the old streets of Boston, those of 
Sydney were the growth of chance, and were not originally 
laid out, like those of Melbourne and Adelaide. Our Wash- 
ington Street, Boston, was once a cow-path, while the 
present site of George Street in Sydney was a meandering 
bullock-track. 

This capital, like the two we have already visited in 
Australia, has a superb botanical garden covering some 
forty acres of land. The grounds extend on a gradual in- 
cline to the shores of the beautiful bay, forming a semi- 
circle round what is known as Farm Cove, a picturesque 
indentation of the harbor, close to Government House. 
One special charm of these delightful grounds is the fact 
that they are accessible by a walk of about five minutes 
from the centre of the city. It is not necessary to make 
an excursion in order to reach them, as is the case with 
many similar resorts, such as Sydenham in London, Cen- 
tral Park, New York, or the Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Here 
semi-arctic and semi-tropical plants and trees are found 
growing together, and all parts of the world seem to be 
liberally represented. The hardy Scotch fir and delicate 
palm crowd each other ; the india-rubber-tree and the laurel 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 6/ 

are close friends ; the California pine and the Florida 
orange thrive side by side ; so with the silvery fern-tree of 
New Zealand, and the guava of Cuba. China, Japan, 
India, Africa, Egypt, and South America have all furnished 
representative trees and shrubs for the beautifying of these 
comprehensive gardens. 

There is here a fine specimen of the Australian musk- 
tree, which attains a height of nearly twenty feet, and ex- 
hales from leaf and bark a peculiar sweet odor, though not 
at all like what its name indicates. Here we see also the 
she-oak-tree, which is said to emit a curious wailing sound 
during the quietest state of the atmosphere, when there is 
not a breath of wind to move the branches or the leaves. 
This tree is found growing near the sea in Australia, and 
is said to have borrowed the murmur of the conch-shell. 
It has proved to be the inspiring theme of many a local 
poet. The flowers in this garden are as attractive as the 
trees ; fuchsias, roses, and camellias are in great perfection 
and variety, flanked by a species of double pansies and a 
whole army of brilliant tulips. Flowers bloom in every 
month of the year in this region, out of doors, and are 
rarely troubled by the frost. 

The excellent university of Sydney is admirably situated, 
and is the first that was founded in the Southern Hemi- 
sphere. The city has also its art-gallery, and free public 
library, with over a hundred thousand volumes. It has 
also hospitals, churches, and many charitable institutions, 
with various schools. Sydney holds high rank as a British 
colonial city, and deservedly so, having special reason 
for pride in the complete system of her charitable and 
educational organizations, her noble public buildings, and 
the general character of her leading citizens. Land in the 



68 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

city and immediate suburbs is held at prices averaging as 
high as in Boston and New York, and the wealth of the 
people is represented to be very great in the aggregate. 

Australia in its extreme breadth, between Shark's Bay 
on the west and Sandy Cape on the eastern shore, meas- 
ures twenty-four hundred miles ; and from north to south, 
— that is, from Cape York to Cape Atway, — it is probably 
over seventeen hundred miles in extent. The occupied 
and improved portions of the country skirt the seacoast on 
the southern and eastern sides, which are covered with 
cities, towns, villages, and hamlets. The country occupied 
for sheep-runs and cattle-ranches is very sparsely inhab- 
ited. The reason for this is obvious, since the owner of a 
hundred thousand sheep requires between two and three 
hundred thousand acres to feed them properly. The rela- 
tive proportion as to sheep and land is to allow two and a 
third acres to each animal. 

The great dividing mountain-chain of Australia is near 
the coast-line in the south and east, averaging perhaps a 
hundred miles or more from the sea. Nearly all the gold 
which the land has produced has come from the valleys 
and hillsides of this range. The gold-diggings of New 
South Wales have proved to be very rich in some sections ; 
but unlike those of Queensland and Victoria, the precious 
metal is here found mostly in alluvial deposits. 

Many nationalities are represented in Austraha and New 
Zealand, but the majority are English, Scotch, and Irish. 
The officials of New South Wales especially, look to Eng- 
land for favors which a political separation would cut them 
off from ; among these are honorary titles and crown ap- 
pointments of a paying nature. The constitution under 
which the colonies are living is such as to entitle them to 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 69 

be called democracies. In many respects the local govern- 
ment is more liberal and advanced than in England. 
Church and State, for instance, are here kept quite distinct 
from each other. As to the legislative power of the colo- 
nies, it is seldom interfered with by the home govern- 
ment. 

A journey of about five hundred miles northward, either 
along the coast by steamer, or by railway inland, will take 
us to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, which has a 
population of about fifty thousand. Until i860 it was an 
appendage of New South Wales, but was in that year 
formed into an independent colony. The site of the city 
is a diversified surface, with the river whose name it bears 
winding gracefully through it, about twenty-four miles 
from its mouth; though in a direct line it would be but 
half that distance to where it empties into Moreton Bay, 
one of the largest on the coast of Australia. It was dis- 
covered by Captain Cook in 1770, and is formed by two 
long sandy islands running north and south, named respec- 
tively Standbroke and Moreton Islands, enclosing between 
them and the mainland a spacious sheet of water more 
than thirty miles long and six or eight wide, beautified by 
fertile islands. 

On approaching Brisbane by sea one is puzzled at first 
to find where the mouth of the river can be, so completely 
is it hidden by the mangrove swamps which skirt the coast. 
A pleasant little watering-place is situated close at hand, 
named Sandgate, which is connected by hourly stages 
with the city. Several small rivers, all of which, however, 
are more or less navigable, empty into Moreton Bay, 
showing that the district inland hereabouts must be well 
watered. It is less than fifty years since Brisbane was 



70 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

opened to free settlers, having been previously only a penal 
station for English criminals ; but of this taint resting upon 
the locality, the same may be said as of Sydney, or Hobart, 
in Tasmania, — scarcely a trace remains. 

Queen Street is the principal thoroughfare, and is lined 
with handsome stores and fine edifices, there being no lack 
of architectural excellence in either public or private build- 
ings. Like its sister cities, it has a botanical garden, the 
climate here favoring even a more extensive out-door dis- 
play of tropical and delicate vegetation than at Melbourne 
or Sydney. An intelligent spirit of enterprise is evinced 
by the citizens of Brisbane, and everything goes to show- 
that it is destined to become a populous and prosperous 
business centre. Its climate, especially, is considered 
almost perfect. Queensland is very rich in gold-produc- 
ing mines, but it has also almost endless rolling plains 
covered with h2rbage suitable for the support of great 
herds and flocks, where some fourteen millions of sheep 
are now yielding meat and wool for export, and where 
some three millions of cattle are herded. The real great- 
ness of the country is to be found in its agricultural capac- 
ity, which is yet to be developed. A very pleasant trip 
may be enjoyed up the Brisbane River and Bremer Creek, 
on which latter stream Ipswich is situated. It is twice as 
far by water as by land, but the sail is delightful, often 
affording charming views of the city from the river, while 
at the same time passing suburban residences, flourishing 
farms, banana-groves, cotton-fields, sugar-plantations, and 
orange-orchards. 

Queensland is more than five times as large as the United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and it possesses an 
immense amount of undeveloped resources of the most 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 7 1 

promising character. The sun shines here with much 
more tropical ardor than in New South Wales or Victoria. 
The palm takes the place of the eucalyptus to a certain ex- 
tent. The tulip-tree, rosewood, sandalwood, and satin- 
wood, which are not observed further south, greet us here. 
The aborigines are oftener met than elsewhere, as they 
prefer to live in a more temperate climate than is found 
southward, and to be where they can have the country 
more to themselves. They probably do not number over 
thirty thousand in all, and are slowly but surely de- 
creasing before the advance of the whites. Even when 
first discovered they were but a handful of people, so to 
speak, scattered over an immense territory. They have 
still no distinct notion of the building of houses in which 
to live, or at least they adopt none, though they have the 
example of the whites constantly before them. They are 
very ugly, having black skins, flat noses, wide nostrils, and 
deep-sunken eyes wide apart. A bark covering, much ruder 
than anything which would content an American Indian, 
forms their only shelter, and they often burrow content- 
edly under the lee of an overhanging rock or hillside. 

The Australian blacks have plenty of legends of the 
most barbaric character, but by no means void of poetical 
features. They believe that the earth was created by a 
being of supreme attributes, whom they call Nourelle, and 
who lives in the sky. They entertain the idea that be- 
cause the sun gives heat it needs fuel, and that when it 
descends below the horizon it procures a fresh supply for 
its fires. The stars are supposed to be the dwellings of 
departed chiefs. The serpent is believed to contain the 
spirit of a real devil. To eat the kidney of an enemy, it 
is thought by them, imparts to the one who swallows it 



72 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the strength of the dead man. Any number above five, 
these blacks express by saying, " it is as the leaves," not 
to be counted. The white man's locomotive is an impris- 
oned fire-devil, kept under control by water. The light- 
ning is the angry expression of some enraged god. 

The most peculiar weapon possessed by these aborigines 
is one which originated with them, and is known as the 
boomerang, — of which every one has heard, but which 
few have seen. It is a weapon whose characteristics have 
caused its name to pass into a synonym for anything which 
turns upon the person who uses it. It seems at first sight 
to be only a flat, crooked, or curved piece of polished wood, 
about twenty-eight inches long and three-quarters of an 
inch in thickness. There is nothing remarkable about 
this weapon until we see a native throw one. In doing 
this he carefully poises himself, makes a nice calculation 
as to distance, raises his arm above his head, and brings it 
down with a sort of swoop, swiftly launching the curved 
wood from his hand. At first the boomerang skims along 
near the ground, then rises four or five feet, but only to 
sink again, and again to rise. As we carefully watch its 
course, and suppose it just about to stop in its erratic 
career, and drop, spent, to the ground, it suddenly ceases 
its forward flight, and rapidly returns to the thrower. It 
is thought that no white man can exactly learn the trick 
of throwing this strange weapon, and certainly few ever 
care to attempt it a second time. 

Ethnologists tell us that these blacks belong to the Ethi- 
opian race, — they are the lowest probably of all the human 
family. The conviction forces itself upon us that they 
must be the remnant of some ancient people of whom we 
have no historic record. When Australia was first taken 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 73 

possession of by the whites, it seems to have been, if the 
term is in any instance admissible, a God-forsaken land ; 
certainly it was the most destitute of natural productions 
of any portion of the globe. We can well believe that 
before these blacks came hither, — perhaps a thousand 
years ago, — this land was untrodden by human beings. 

No species of grain was known to these natives ; not a 
single fruit worthy of notice grew wild, and not an edible 
root of value was produced. The only game of any size 
was the kangaroo and a few species of birds. Now, the 
trees, fruits, vegetables, and game of all regions have 
become domesticated here, proving to be highly produc- 
tive, whether transplanted from tropical or from semi- 
tropical regions. 

Queensland measures thirteen hundred miles from north 
to south, and is about eight hundred miles in width, con- 
taining a population at the present time of three hundred 
and forty thousand. The climate may be compared to that 
of Madeira, and it is entirely free from the hot winds which 
sometimes render Sydney and Melbourne so uncomforta- 
ble. Leaving out West Australia, which is yet so little 
developed, the country may be divided thus : Queensland 
is the best and most extensive grazing section ; in this 
respect New South Wales comes next. South AustraHa 
is characterized by its prolific grain-fields, and Victoria is 
richest in auriferous deposits ; but there is gold enough in 
all of these colonies to afford constant stimulus to mining 
enterprise, fresh discoveries in this line being made every 
month. It is proposed to separate the north of Queens- 
land from the south, at the twenty-second parallel of lati- 
tude, and to form the northern portion into a separate 
colony. As Queensland is larger than England, France, 



74 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and Belgium with Holland and Denmark combined, there 
can be no want of territory for such a political division : 
population, however, is needed. 

We will now turn our steps southward, by the way of 
Sydney and Melbourne, to Tasmania. At the last-named 
city we take a coasting steamer passing down the river 
Yarra-Yarra, the muddiest of water-ways, until Bass's Strait 
is reached, across which the course is due-south for a 
hundred and twenty miles. This is a reach of ocean 
travel which for boisterousness and discomfort can be 
said to rival the English Channel, between Calais and 
Dover. As the coast of Tasmania is approached, a tall 
lighthouse, one hundred and forty feet above sea-level, 
first attracts the attention, designating the mouth of the 
Tamar River. While crossing the Strait we are sur- 
rounded by a great variety of sea-birds, among which are 
the cape-pigeon, the stormy petrel, and the gannet, which 
last is the largest of ocean birds next to the albatross. 

On drawing still nearer to the shore, flocks of pelicans 
are observed upon the rocks, and that most awkward of 
birds, the penguin, is seen in idle groups. He is a good 
swimmer, but his apologetic wings are not intended for 
flying. 

We pass up the Tamar River, through a narrow, wind- 
ing channel for a distance of forty miles before coming 
to the harbor and town of Launceston. The many tall, 
smoking chimney-shafts which meet the eye indicate that 
the town is busy smelting ores, dug from the neighboring 
mineral hills and valleys. It is a pleasant and thrifty little 
city, somewhat liable to earthquakes and their attendant 
inconveniencies. The place has a population of ten or 
twelve thousand, and is named after a town in Cornwall, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 75 

England. We have left Australia proper far behind us, 
but the Bass Strait which separates that land from Tas- 
mania is evidently of modern formation. The similarity 
of the vegetation, minerals, animal, and vegetable life of 
the two countries shows that this island must, at some 
time in the long-past ages, have been connected with the 
mainland. And yet the aborigines of Tasmania were 
a race quite distinct from those of Australia, so different, 
indeed, as only to resemble them in color. They were a 
well-formed, athletic people, with brilliant eyes, curly hair, 
flat noses, and elaborately tattooed bodies. This ingenious 
and barbaric ornamentation, practised by isolated savage 
races, seems to have been universal among the inhabitants 
of the Pacific Islands, though the great distances which 
separate them, as well as the lack of all ordinary means of 
intercommunication, would lead to the belief that they 
could not have borrowed the idea from one another. So 
late as 1828 there were a few of the Tasmanian aborigines 
still alive, but to-day there is not a representative of the 
race in existence. 

When the country cast off the disgrace of being a penal 
colony, the name it bore was very judiciously changed from 
Van Dieman's Land to that of Tasmania, in honor of its 
first discoverer, Abel Janssen Tasman, the famous Dutch 
navigator of the seventeenth century. We should perhaps 
qualify the words "first discoverei." Tasman was the first 
accredited discoverer, but he was less entitled to impart 
his name to this beautiful island than were others. Cap- 
tain Cook, with characteristic zeal and sagacity, explored, 
surveyed, and described it, whereas Tasman scarcely more 
than sighted it. However, any name was preferable to that 
of Van Dieman's Land, which had become the synonyme 



76 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

for a penal station, and with which is associated the mem- 
ory of some of the most outrageous and murderous acts of 
cruelty for which a civilized government was ever respon- 
sible. 

The whole island has now a population of about one 
hundred and thirty thousand, and a total area of over 
twenty-four thousand square miles. It is not quite so large 
as Ireland. Lying nearer to the Antarctic Circle it is of 
course cooler than the continent, but the influence of the 
sea, which completely surrounds it, renders the climate 
more equable. The general aspect of the country is that 
of being occupied by thrifty farmers of advanced ideas, 
such as carry on their calling understandingly, and more 
like well-populated America than sparsely-inhabited Aus- 
tralia. Our native fruits — apples, peaches, pears, and the 
like — thrive here in such abundance, as to form a prom- 
inent item in the exports, besides promoting a large and 
profitable industry in the packing of preserved fruits, 
which are in universal use in Australia and New Zealand. 
These canned fruits have an excellent and well-deserved 
reputation. Here, also, we find enormous trees, with a 
circumference of eighty feet near the ground, and a height 
of three hundred and fifty feet. Fern-trees, with their 
graceful palm-like formation, are frequently seen thirty 
feet in height. The country is well-wooded generally, and 
traversed by pleasant watercourses ; it is singularly fertile, 
and rich in good harbors, especially upon the east coast. 
In short, its hills, forests, and plains afford a pleasing vari- 
ety of scenery, while its rich pastures invite the stock- 
breeder to reap a goodly harvest in the easiest manner. 

Launceston is situated at the head of navigation, on the 
Tamar, where the town nestles in the lap of a valley sur- 



•yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 77 

rounded by high elevations. It is regularly laid out in 
broad streets, lighted by gas, and has a good water-supply 
brought from St. Patrick's River, fifteen miles east of the 
city. There are numerous substantial stone buildings, and 
everything bears a business-like aspect. There is a public 
library, and several free schools of each grade. The 
North and South Elk Rivers rise on different sides of Ben 
Lomond, and after flowing through some romantic plains 
and gorges, they join each other at Launceston. The sky- 
reaching mountain just named is worthy of its Scotch 
counterpart ; between it and Launceston is some of the 
finest river and mountain scenery in all Tasmania. Ben 
Lomond is the chief object in the landscape, wherever 
one drives or walks in this part of the island. Tasmania 
possesses vast mineral wealth. The richest and most 
profitable tin mine in the world is that of Mount Bischoff, 
situated about a hundred and fifty miles from Launceston. 
The Beaconsfield gold mine is only thirty miles from the 
city, besides several others not much further away, which 
are rich in their yield of the precious metal. 

The journey from here to Hobart, a distance of one 
hundred and twenty miles, takes us through the length of 
the island in a southeasterly direction. We pass through 
lovely glades, over broad plains, across rushing streams, 
and around the base of abrupt mountains. Hobart was so 
named in 1804, in honor of Lord Hobart, who was then 
Secretary of State for the Colonies. It is surrounded by 
hills and mountains except where the river Derwent opens 
into lake form, making a deep, well-sheltered harbor, 
whence it leads the way into the Southern Ocean. Among 
the lofty hills in this vicinity Mount Wellington towers forty- 
two hundred feet above the others, so close to the city as 



78 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

to appear to be within rifle range. The shape of the town 
is square, and it is built upon a succession of hills, very 
much like Sydney. It has broad streets intersecting each 
other at right angles, lined with handsome, well-stocked 
stores and dwelling-houses, serving an active and enterpris- 
ing population of thirty thousand and more. Of these 
shops, two or three spacious and elegant bookstores 
deserve special mention, being such as would be cred- 
itable to any American city. It must undoubtedly be a 
cultured community which affords support to such estab- 
lishments. 

Yet we cannot forget that Hobart has scarcely outlived 
the curse of the penal association which encompassed its 
birth. Between thirty and forty years ago, the British 
government expended here five thousand dollars a day in 
support of jails and military barracks. The last convict 
ship from England discharged her cargo at Hobart in 185 1, 
since which year the system has gradually disappeared. 
The city is supphed with all the necessary charitable and 
educational institutions, including a public library and' 
art gallery. The street scenes have the usual local color, 
embracing the typical miner, with his rude kit upon his 
shoulder, consisting of a huge canvas bag, a shovel, and 
pick. The professional chimney-sweep, with blackened 
face and hands begrimed, — he whom we lost sight of 
in Boston years ago, — is here seen pursuing his antiquated 
vocation. Market-men have the same peculiar mode of 
dehvering purchases to their customers that we have no- 
ticed elsewhere in this country, and are seen galloping 
about upon wiry little horses, bearing upon their arms 
large well-filled baskets. Women, with small handcarts 
full of slaughtered rabbits, cry them for sale at twelve 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 79 

cents a pair, besides which they receive a bounty for kilhng 
these pests. 

The river Derwent, which rises far inland where the 
beautiful lakes St. Clair and Sorell are embosomed, broad- 
ens into a lake six miles wide where it forms the harbor of 
Hobart, and is famous for the regattas that are rowed upon 
its surface. Here, the largest craft that navigates these 
seas can lie close to the wharf and the warehouses. A visit 
to the Lake District of Tasmania affords many delightful 
views, where those inland waters ju"st referred to lie in 
their lonely beauty, now overhung by towering cliffs, like 
those bordering a Norwegian arm of the sea, and now 
edged by pebbly beaches where choice agates and carne- 
lians abound. 

The charming cloud-effects which hang over and about 
the lofty hills which environ the capital of Tasmania, recall 
vividly those of the Lake of Geneva, near Chillon, 
while the Derwent itself, reflecting the hills upon its blue 
and placid surface, forms another pleasing resemblance to 
Lake Leman. In ascending Mount Wellington, the lion 
of Tasmanian scenery, when we find ourselves at an ele- 
vation of about two thousand feet, it is discovered that we 
have reached the Old World ocean-floor. Here, there are 
plenty of remains of the former denizens of the ocean, — 
fossils, telling the strange and interesting story of terrestrial 
changes that have taken place in the thousands upon thou- 
sands of years that are passed. 

About twenty miles from Hobart we find a forest of the 
remarkable gum-trees of which we have all read, — trees 
which exceed in height and circumference the mammoth 
growths of our own Yosemite Valley, and fully equal those 
of Victoria. The immediate locality which contains them 



8o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

is known as the Huon District. A walk among these 
forest giants fills one with wonder and delight ; their lofty 
tops seem almost lost in the sky to which they aspire. No 
church steeple, no cathedral pinnacle reared by the hand 
of man, but only mountain peaks reach so far skyward. 

Tasmania is largely occupied for sheep-runs and wool- 
raising. The eastern side of the island is studded with 
lovely homesteads carefully fenced, the grounds about the 
residences being covered with fruit trees and flower plats. 
There does not appear to be any waste land, all is carefully 
improved in the peopled districts. The roads are often 
lined with thrifty hedges, symmetrically trimmed, fre- 
quently consisting of the brilliant, constant flowering, 
fragrant yellow gorse, and sometimes of the stocky species 
of scarlet geranium,. This sort is not fragrant but becomes 
very thick by being cut partly down annually, until it 
makes an almost impenetrable hedge. Prosperity and good 
taste are everywhere noticeable, amid a succession of 
landscapes like those of the populous New England States. 




^,- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

WE embark at Hobart by steamship, for Southern 
New Zealand. After following the course of the 
river Derwent for a distance of twelve miles, its mouth is 
reached, where the ship's course is a little south of east, 
the dull green of the waters on soundings rapidly changing 
to the navy blue of the ocean. The prevailing winds here 
are from the west, which with the Australian current and 
the Antarctic drift, are in our favor, so .the ship speeds 
cheerily on her way. 

The tedium of the voyage is beguiled by watching 
the graceful movements of the wandering albatross, the 
fateful bird of nautical romance, which is sure to be seen 
in considerable numbers below the thirtieth parallel of 
south latitude. The peculiarities of this sea-bird's flight 
are a constant marvel, for it scarcely ever plies its wings, 
but literally sails upon the wind in any desired course. 
We wonder what secret power can so propel him for hun- 
dreds of rods with an upward trend at the close. If for a 
single moment he lights upon the water to seize some ob- 
ject of food, there is a trifling exertion evinced in rising 
again, until he is a few feet above the waves, when once 
more he sails with or against the wind, upon outspread, im- 
movable wings. With no apparent inclination or occasion 
for pugnacity, the albatross is yet armed with a tremendous 
beak, certainly the most terrible of its kind possessed by 
any of the feathered tribe. It is from six to eight inches 



82 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

long, and ends in a sharp-pointed hook extremely strong 
and hard. It has been humorously said that if he pleased, 
the albatross might breakfast at the Cape of Good Hope 
and dine in New York, so wonderfully swift is he in flight 
and so powerful on the wing. 

At night the phosphorescence of these lonely waters lying 
just north of the Antarctic Circle, between Tasmania and 
New Zealand, is indeed marvellous. Liquid fire is the 
only term which will properly express their flame-like ap- 
pearance. If a bucketful is drawn and deposited upon 
deck, while it remains still it appears dark and like any 
other water, but when agitated it emits scintillations of 
light like the stars. A drop of this water placed under a 
microscope is found to be teeming with living and active 
creatures. If we suspend a muslin bag for a few moments 
over the ship's side, with the mouth open, then draw it up 
and permit it to drain for a few seconds, placing what re- 
mains in a glass tumbler, we shall find the abundance of 
living forms which it contains quite visible to the naked 
eye. No two of these minute creatures seem to be of sim- 
ilar form ; the variety is infinite, and their activity inces- 
sant. Most of these animalcules, however, are so small 
that if it were not for the microscope we should never 
know of their existence. 

The voyage from Hobart to the Bluff, South New 
Zealand, usually consumes four days, and it is often a very 
rough passage. Sailing-vessels making this trip carry a 
quantity of crude oil, which in extreme cases they employ 
to still the boisterous sea about them, when "God maketh 
the deep to boil like a pot." It should be known that our 
own Benjamin Franklin first suggested, about a century 
ago, the carrying of oil by vessels for this purpose. This 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. ^^ 

shrewd American philosopher was also the first to suggest, 
about the same time, that ship-builders should construct 
the hulls of vessels in water-tight compartments, thus af- 
fording sufficient sustaining power to float them when by 
accident portions of the hull became leaky or broken into. 
After the lapse of a century both of these precautions have 
been adopted, and are much used. 

As we sight the land, the southwest coast of New 
Zealand is found to be indented with deep fjords^ almost 
precisely like the coast of Norway from Bergen to Ham- 
merfest ; and, singular to say, these arms of the sea, like 
those of the far north, are much deeper than the neighbor- 
ing ocean. The Bluff, also known as Campbelltown, is 
situated in the very track of storms, being open to the 
entire sweep of the Antarctic Ocean. Its shelving side, 
sloping towards the harbor, forms a sort of lee, or shel- 
tered position, which is occupied by a pretty little fishing- 
village of some sixty houses, and contains a population 
of less than a thousand. These people gain their living 
mostly from the neighboring sea, and from such labor as 
is consequent upon the occasional arrival of a steamship 
bound northward. We may here take refreshment at the 
Golden Age Inn, which is the most southerly house of 
public entertainment on the globe. 

New Zealand did not become a recognized British col- 
ony until the year 1840. For three-quarters of a century 
after Cook's first visit, the native tribes remained in free 
possession of the country. It is true that England was 
mistress of these islands by right of discovery, but she 
made no formal assumption of political domain until the 
period already named, when it was formed into a colony 
subordinate to the government of New South Wales. As 

1 _Pronounced feords. 



84 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

early as 1815, white men of venturous disposition began to 
settle in small numbers among the natives ; but often 
their fate was to be roasted and eaten by cannibals. Be- 
fore 1820, missionaries, no doubt influenced by truly Chris- 
tian motives, came hither and devoted their lives to this 
people, — in more senses than one, as it is well known 
that they not infrequently met with a fate similar to that 
of other settlers. 

New Zealand lies as far south of the equator as Italy 
does north of it, and is divided into the North and South 
Islands by Cook's Strait. The South Island is also known 
as the Middle Island, to distinguish it more fully from 
Stewart Island, which belongs to the group, and which lies 
to the south of it. This last-named island is separated 
from Middle Island by Foveaux Strait some fifteen or 
twenty miles across the water from the Bluff. It is about 
fifty miles long by thirty broad, and has a mountain range 
running through it, the loftiest peak of which is a trifle 
over three thousand feet high. There are some fishing 
hamlets here, but there are very few inhabitants. All 
these islands are popularly believed to have once formed 
part of a great continent, which is now sunk in the sea. 

Unlike Australia, New Zealand is rarely visited by 
drought. The whole eastern coast abounds in good har- 
bors, while the rivers and streams are ever flowing and in- 
numerable. Though it is a mountainous country, it differs 
from Switzerland in that it has no lack of extensive plains, 
which seem to have been left by nature ready to the hand 
of the farmer, requiring scarcely ordinary cultivation to 
insure large and profitable crops of grains. This diversity 
of surface, as well as the fact that these islands extend 
over thirteen degrees of latitude, give the country a varied 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 85 

climate, but it is a remarkably temperate one, its salubrity 
far surpassing that of England or any part of the United 
States. While snow is never seen in the North Island ex- 
cept upon the highest mountains, the plains of the South 
Island, as far south as Otago, are sometimes sprinkled with 
it, but only to disappear almost immediately. The rivers 
are generally destitute of fish, and the forests of game. 
It is no sportsman's country ; but vegetation runs riot, 
the soil being remarkably fertile, clothing the wild lands 
with perpetual verdure and vigorous freshness. 

The area of the islands known as New Zealand is about 
one hundred thousand square miles, being a few more than 
are contained in England, Wales, and Ireland combined. 
The entire coast line is four thousand miles in length. 
Out of the seventy million acres of land, forty million are 
deemed worthy of cultivation. The soil being light and 
easily worked favors the agriculturist, and New Zealand is 
free from all noxious animals and venomous reptiles. It 
is stated that no animal larger than a rat was found here 
by the discoverers. The remote situation of the country, 
surrounded by the greatest extent of ocean on the globe, 
has kept it in a measure unknown to the rest of the world, 
even in these days of rapid communication with all parts 
of the earth. Wellington, the capital, is about fifteen 
thousand miles more or less, from the Colonial Office in 
London ; in other words. New Zealand forms the nearest 
land to the actual antipodes of England. The precious 
metals are distributed over the land in gold-bearing quartz, 
reefs, rich alluvial diggings, and in the sands of its many 
rivers. Mines of tin and iron as well as other minerals are 
supplemented by an abundant supply of the most impor- 
tant of them all ; namely, coal. 



86 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

There is little of interest to detain us at the Bluff, so 
we continue on by steamer to Dunedin, the metropolis of 
Otago district, and indeed, the principal city of New 
Zealand, if we make the number and wealth of its popula- 
tion the criterion of comparison. The cities of both Aus- 
tralia and New Zealand, but especially those of the latter 
country, have a habit of locating themselves among and 
upon a collection of hills, up the sides of which the houses 
creep in a very picturesque manner. Dunedin is no ex- 
ception to this rule, rising rather abruptly from the plain, 
which is the location of the wharves and business houses, 
to the summit of the surrounding hills. A portion of the 
plain near the shore, upon which broad streets and sub- 
stantial blocks of buildings now stand, consists of made 
land, redeemed at great expense from the shallow water 
front of the town. 

The first settlement here was made so late as 1848, by a 
colony nearly every member of which came from Scotland, 
and from this source the city has continued ever since to 
draw large numbers annually. The Scottish brogue salutes 
the ear everywhere ; the Scottish physiognomy is always 
prominent to the eye ; and indeed, there are several prevail- 
ing indications which cause one to half believe himself in 
Aberdeen, Glasgow, or Edinburgh. This is by no means 
unpleasant. There is a solid, reliable appearance to every- 
thing. People are rosy-cheeked, hearty, and good to look 
at. The wand of the enchanter, to speak figuratively, 
touched the place in 1861, from which date it took a fresh 
start upon the road of prosperity. It was caused by gold 
being discovered in large quantities near at hand, and from 
that date the city of Dunedin has grown in population and 
wealth with marvellous rapidity. Large substantial stone 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 8/ 

edifices have sprung up on all the main thoroughfares de- 
voted to business purposes, banks, public offices, churches, 
schools, storehouses, etc., giving an unmistakable aspect of 
prosperity. The street-cars are mostly operated on the 
cable principle. Horses could not draw heavily-laden cars 
up some of the steep streets. The sensation when being 
conveyed on one of these cars up or down a steep grade of 
the city, is the same as when ascending or descending 
some Swiss mountains, by means of the same unseen 
power. The car is promptly stopped anywhere, to land or 
to take on a passenger, no matter how steep the grade, by 
the simple movement of a lever, and is easily started again. 
The powerful stationary engine situated a mile away, 
by means of the chain beneath the road-bed quietly winds 
the car up the declivity however heavily it may be laden, 
without the least slacking of speed. 

The singularly formed hills about Dunedin are not mere 
barren rocks, — they have their suggestiveness, speaking 
of volcanic eruptions, of wild upheavals, dating back for 
thousands of years. Scientists tell us that these islands 
are of the earliest rock formations. The ground upon 
which this city stands, like that of Auckland further north, 
is composed of the fiery outflow of volcanic matter. 

Dunedin has all the usual educational and philanthropic 
institutions which a community of fifty thousand intelligent 
people demand in our day. It is especially well supplied 
with primary and other schools. Throughout New Zealand 
there are over eight hundred registered public schools of 
the various grades. It is a source of gratification to realize 
that educational interests are nowhere neglected in these 
far-away colonies, where the eager pursuit of gold has been 
so prominent an element in inducing immigration. New 



88 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Zealand is nearly as rich in gold deposits as is Australia, 
and the precious metal is obtained under nearly the same 
conditions. Much gold has been found here in what are 
called pockets, under boulders and large stones which lie 
on the sandy beach of the west coast. This is popularly 
believed to have been washed up from the sea in heavy 
weather, but undoubtedly it was first washed down from 
the mountains and deposited along the shore. Official re- 
turns show that New Zealand has produced over two hun- 
dred and fifty million dollars in gold since its discovery in 
these islands. 

When Captain Cook first landed here, he fully under- 
stood the cannibal habits of the native race, and sought 
for some practical means of discouraging and abolishing 
such inhuman practices. Upon his second visit, therefore, 
he introduced swine and some other domestic animals, 
such as goats and horned cattle, in the vain hope that they 
would ultimately supply sufficient animal food for the sav- 
ages, and divert them from such wholesale roasting and 
eating of each other. The goats and some other animals 
were soon slaughtered and consumed, but the swine to a 
certain extent answered the purpose for which he designed 
them ; that is to say, they ran wild, multiplied remarkably, 
and were hunted and eaten by the natives ; but cannibal- 
ism was by no means abolished, or even appreciably 
checked. Wild hogs, which have sprung from the origi- 
nal animals introduced so many years ago, are still quite 
abundant in the North Island. 

About two hundred miles northward from Dunedin is 
the city of Christchurch, settled first in 1850, and the chief 
seat of the Church of England in New Zealand, having a 
noble cathedral. Littleton is the port of Christchurch, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 89 

situated eight miles below the city, and connected with it 
by both river and railway. This metropolis contains about 
thirty-five thousand people. In its museum there is a 
most interesting and perfect skeleton of that great bird, 
the Moa, — indigenous in this country and believed to have 
been extinct about two thousand years, probably disappear- 
ing before any human beings came to these islands. The 
Maori Indians (pronounced Mow're), the native race of 
New Zealand, can be traced back but six or seven hun- 
dred years, and only very imperfectly during that period. 
They are believed to have come from the islands 
lying in the North Pacific, presumably from the Sand- 
wich or Hawaiian group. Even the traditions of these 
natives fail to give us any account of this gigantic bird 
while it was living, but its bones are found in various 
sections of the country, principally in caves. What is 
left of the Moa to-day is quite sufficient to- form the 
greatest ornithological wonder in the world. The head 
of this reconstructed skeleton in the museum of Christ- 
church stands sixteen feet from the ground, and its 
various proportions are all of a character to harmonize with 
its remarkable height. This skeleton shows the marvellous 
bird to have been, when standing upright, five feet taller 
than the average full-grown giraffe. It belonged to the 
giants who dwelt upon the earth perhaps twenty thousand 
years ago, in the period of the mammoth and the dodo. 

A couple of hundred miles further north will bring us to 
Wellington, the national capital. After a narrow entrance 
is passed, the harbor opens into a magnificent sheet of 
water, in which the largest ships may ride in safety and 
discharge their cargoes at wharves built close to the busy 
centre of the town. Here, as in Dunedin, a portion of land 



90 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

has been reclaimed from the sea for business purposes. 
The city has its asylums, a college, hospital, botanical gar- 
den, Roman Catholic cathedral, and a colonial museum, — 
the latter being of more than ordinary interest in the ex- 
cellence and completeness of its several departments. A 
structure which is exhibited here and called the Maori 
House, built by the natives as a specimen of their domestic 
architecture, is particularly interesting, being also full of 
aboriginal curiosities, such as domestic utensils, weapons, 
and carvings. The house is of ordinary village size, and is or- 
namented on many of its posts by carved figures, represent- 
ing native heroes and gods. The province of Wellington 
stretches northward a hundred and fifty miles and contains 
seven million acres of land, diversified by two mountain 
ranges. The population of the capital is a little over twenty 
thousand. The town impresses one as being a community 
of shops, and it is a subject of surprise how they can all 
obtain a living. 

A considerable number of natives, mostly in European 
costume, are seen in the streets of Wellington, loitering 
about the corners and gazing curiously into shop windows, 
the girls and women having heavy shocks of unkempt hair 
shading their great black eyes, high cheek-bones, and dis- 
figured mouths and chins, which last are tattooed in blue 
dye of some sort. The males tattoo the whole face elabo- 
rately, but the women disfigure themselves thus only about 
the mouth and chin. It is most amusing to see them meet 
one another and rub noses, which is the Maori mode of 
salutation. This race has some very peculiar habits : they 
never eat salt ; they have no fixed industry, and no idea of 
time or its divisions into hours and months ; they are, like 
our North American Indians, constitutionally lazy, are in- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 9 1 

tensely selfish, and seem to care nothing for their dead ; 
they have a quick sense of insult, but cannot as a rule be 
called pugnacious ; they excite themselves to fight by in- 
dulging in strange war-dances and by singing songs full of 
braggadocio ; and, after having been thus wrought up to a 
state of frenzy, they are perfectly reckless as to personal 
hazard. The Maori is not, however, a treacherous enemy ; 
he gives honorable notice of his hostile intent, warring only 
in an open manner, thus exhibiting a degree of chivalry 
unknown to our American Indians. Money with the Maori 
is considered only as representing so much rum and to- 
bacco. Alcohol is his criterion of value ; bread and meat 
are quite secondary. 

The name "Maori" is that which these aborigines gave 
themselves. If there were any human beings upon these 
islands when the Maoris first arrived, they doubtless fell a 
prey to the cannibalistic habits of the newcomers, whose 
insatiable appetite for human flesh was irrepressible. When 
discovered by Cook, they were the lowest of savage races ; 
they knew scarcely anything of the mechanic arts, their 
skill being limited to the scooping out of a boat from the 
trunk of a tree, and the fabrication of fishing-nets from 
the coarse fibre of the wild flax. They also made spears, 
shields, and clubs. They had no beasts of burden, and 
so their women were made to supply the place. Their 
agriculture was confined to the raising of sweet potatoes 
and the taro root, while their more substantial food con- 
sisted of fish, rats, wild fowl, and human flesh. Captain 
Cook estimated, when he first visited them, that the 
Maoris had passed the period of their best days. He 
thought that in the century previous to his coming 
hither they had eaten about one-fourth of their number. 



92 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The race is now estimated at only thirty-six or thirty- 
eight thousand, though it is certain that it embraced a 
hundred thousand about a century ago. The decrease in 
ten years is apparent to observant persons, a fact not clearly 
accounted for by any excess of living on their part, though 
their daily habits are not very commendable, especially as 
to drink. They are all most inveterate smokers, — men, 
women, and children ; you can give a Maori maiden noth- 
ing more acceptable to her taste and appreciation than a 
pipe and a plug of smoking-tobacco. As a people, they 
have manifestly filled the purpose for which Providence 
placed them upon these islands of the South Sea ; and 
now, like the Moa, they must pass off the scene and give 
way to another race. So it seems to be with the Red Man 
of America, and so it was with the now totally extinct na- 
tives of Tasmania. 

When this capital of Wellington was first settled, the 
newcomers could build their houses only of wood, the fre- 
quency of earthquakes warning them against raising edi- 
fices of heavy material or making their dwellings over one 
or two stories in height. But earthquakes, though now 
occasionally experienced, are by no means so frequent as 
formerly. Tremulousness of the earth and rumblings as of 
distant thunder are heard now and again, in the hills that 
stretch inland towards the mountains, which is quite suffi- 
cient to keep the fact in mind that this is a volcanic region. 
Earthquake shocks are frequent all over the islands, and it 
is believed that New Zealand was rent midway, where 
Cook's Strait divides the North from the South Island, by 
volcanic explosion. There is known to be an extinct vol- 
cano at the bottom of the strait, in front of the entrance to 
the harbor of Wellington, over which the water is never 
absolutely calm and where it sometimes boils like a caldron. 



JOUKNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

AUCKLAND, the northern metropohs of New Zealand, 
was formerly the capital of the country until Wel- 
lington was selected for the headquarters of the govern- 
ment, as being the more central and accessible from the 
several islands. So beautiful and picturesque are the bay 
and harbor that one is not surprised to hear its citizens 
call it the Naples of New Zealand. Before the European 
settlers came here this was the locality where the most sav- 
age wars were carried on by the natives, and where the most 
warlike tribes lived in fortified villages. Though the country 
has virtually no ancient history that is known to us, it has 
a recognized past extending back for some centuries. 
When the missionaries first came here about the year 
1 8 14, the main subsistence of the natives who lived around 
what is now Auckland harbor, was human flesh. The 
first white immigrants, as well as the seamen of chance 
vessels driven upon the coast, were invariably killed and 
eaten by the Maoris. Not only did cannibalism prevail 
here, but it was common in Brazil, in the West Indies, in 
the other Pacific Islands, along the coast of North America, 
and among the Indians of Chili, who ate the early naviga- 
tors who landed upon their shores. 

The isthmus upon which the city of Auckland is built 
is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable volcanic dis- 
tricts in the world, though the agency of subterranean 
fires is visible enough to the traveller all over the country. 



94 FOOT-PKINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Mount Tongariro, six thousand feet high, is even now in 
activity, with occasional fiery outbursts. The earthquakes 
which occur in both the North and the South Islands, cause 
alternate depressions and elevations. That of 1855 raised 
the coast line four feet for many miles in length. As in 
the peninsula of Scandinavia, we here find a grand longi- 
tudinal mountain range from the extreme of the South 
Island through the Auckland district to the far north, 
forming, as it were, a backbone to the country. 

Mount Eden is the nearest elevation to the city, and is 
seven or eight hundred feet in height. On this hill there 
are abundant evidences still left of the native fortifications, 
but of the large Maori population that once covered the 
peninsula and lived in these pahs, or fortified villages, not 
a soul remains. The harbor is one of the best in Australasia, 
having ample depth and good wharf facilities, besides being 
quite sheltered. Its shorter distance from the ports of 
America gives it an advantage over all others in this 
region. It is reached from London, across the American 
continent, in thirty-seven days, while to reach Sydney 
requires four days more of steam navigation across a 
boisterous sea. 

Auckland occupies a series of hills divided by valleys 
trending in the direction of the sea or harbor. The slopes 
and hill-tops are dotted by villas, each of which is sur- 
rounded by- flowers and ornamental trees. The business 
part of the town is not particularly attractive, though 
Queen Street, the principal thoroughfare, contains some 
fine stores and brick edifices, as well as public buildings of 
stone. Both the level and the hilly streets are traversed 
by street railways, upon which horse-power only is used. 
The population, including the immediate environs, is about 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 95 

sixty-five thousand. The educational interests of the city- 
are well provided for by primary schools, as well as by 
means for secondary education in a college for boys, and 
a high school for girls, both taxed to their full capacity. 

The Ponsonby suburb and the village of Whou are 
composed of pleasant residences tastefully ornamented. 
Parnell forms another suburb, rendered attractive by hedge- 
rows, drooping willows, and prettily arranged gardens. 
From this point one gets a fine view of the outspread bay 
lying below, full of various busy maritime craft. Steam 
ferry-boats are constantly gliding across the harbor, little 
white-winged cutters bend gracefully to the breeze, the 
tall masts of sailing-vessels line the piers, and tiny row- 
boats glance hither and thither. The lofty marine-signal 
hill looms up across the harbor, in its verdant garb, while 
volcanic cones, a little way inland on either shore, form an 
irregular background. Far away and beyond all is seen 
the swelling bosom of the great Southern Ocean. 

This metropolis is situated in the centre of rich timber- 
lands, and also of an abundant coal deposit. Should the 
Panama Canal be completed, Auckland would be the first 
port of call and the last of departure between Europe and 
the colonies of the South Pacific. 

The kauri-tree — the pine of this country — is not at all 
like our North American pine ; instead of needles, its foli- 
age consists of leaves of sombre green. It produces a tim- 
ber which for some purpose is unequalled. It is very slow 
of growth, is remarkably durable, easily worked, of fine grain, 
and does not split or warp by atmospheric exposure. It is 
said that the kauri-tree requires eight hundred years to 
arrive at maturity. To visit the forest where it is found 
in the Auckland district, one takes cars from the city to 



96 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Helensville, a distance of about forty miles, where the 
Kaipara River is reached, upon which small steamers ply, 
taking us directly to the desired spot. Here, the busy 
saw-mills which are gradually consuming these valuable 
trees are so situated that vessels of two thousand tons can 
load at their yards and with their cargo pass directly out to 
sea. It is singular that while this district is the only place 
in New Zealand where the kauri-trees are found, nearly 
every other species of tree native to the country is also 
found here, among them the rimu, the matai, the white 
pine, the tooth-leaved beech, and the totara, all in close 
proximity to the kauri. The commercial prosperity of 
Auckland is largely due to the harvest reaped from these 
forests. The kauri-tree grows to an average height of a 
hundred feet, with a diameter of fifteen feet. It is a clan- 
nish tree, so to speak ; and when found near to those of 
other species it groups itself in clumps apart from them. 
One often sees, however, forests where the kauri reigns 
supreme, quite unmixed with other trees. 

The kauri-gum forms a large figure in the list of exports 
from Auckland, and the digging and preparing of it for 
shipment gives employment to many persons. The natives 
have a theory that the gum descends from the trunks of 
the growing trees, and through the roots becomes deposited 
in the ground. But this is unreasonable ; the gum is a 
partially fossilized production, showing that it has gone 
through a process which only a long period of years could 
have effected. It is usually found at a depth of five or six 
feet from the surface. It is undoubtedly a fact that this ■ 
northerly part of New Zealand was once covered by im- 
mense forests of this gum-tree, which have matured and 
been destroyed by fire and by decay, century after century, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 97 

and the deposit, which is now so marketable, is from the 
dead trees, not from the living. Experiments have been 
tried which have proven that the gum exuded by the grow- 
ing tree has no commercial value. It is very similar to 
amber, for which article it is often sold to unskilled pur- 
chasers ; but its principal use is in the manufacture of 
varnish. 

The immediate neighborhood of Auckland is almost de- 
nuded of original trees, but ornamental species are being 
planted, and flowers are plentiful. The Maoris had distinc- 
tive and expressive names for every bird, tree, and flower, 
before the white man came. There is a lovely little native 
daisy called tupapa, and a blue lily known as rengarenga, also 
a green and yellow passion-flower named by the aborigines 
kowhaia. A glutinous, golden buttercup is known as anata, 
nearly as abundant as its namesake in America. All these 
are wild-flowers, cultivated only by Nature's hand. New 
Zealand seems to be adapted for receiving into its bosom 
the vegetation of any land, and imparting to it renewed 
life and added beauty. Its foster-mother capacity has been 
fully tested, and for years no ship left England for this 
part of the world, without bringing more or less of a con- 
tribution in plants and trees, to be propagated in the new 
home of the colonists. The consequence is, we find pines 
and cypresses, oaks and willows, elms and birches, besides 
fruit-trees of all sorts, which are grown in Europe, thriving 
here in abundance, in the grounds surrounding the settlers' 
houses. The range of temperature is here very limited. 
Summer and winter are only known as the dry and the 
rainy seasons; flowers, vegetables, grapes, in short, all 
plants, grow thriftily the whole year round in the open air. 
Tropical and hardy plants are equally at home ; Scottish firs 



98 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and Indian palms, oranges, lemons, india-rubber trees, and 
the lime thrive side by side. As in Japan, so it is here. One 
can gather a pretty bouquet out of doors any day in the year. 

At Auckland, we are in the vicinity of the famous Hot 
Lake District of New Zealand, the veritable wonderland 
of these regions, to reach which we take the cars for a dis- 
tance of a hundred and thirty miles, then proceed thirty 
miles further by stage to the native town of Ohinemutu, 
on Lake Rotorua. This route carries us in a southeast 
course and leads into the very heart of the North Island, 
among the aborigines. The railway passes through a level 
country or valley, which, however, is bounded on either side, 
five or six miles away, by lofty hills, presenting a confusion 
of irregular forms. These hills contain an abundance of 
mineral wealth in the form of gold, silver, iron, coal, and 
manganese. Many low-lying marshy fields of native flax 
are seen, and the Waikato River is three times crossed in its 
winding course, as we thread our way through the valley. 
Large plantations, each containing several thousand young 
pine-trees of the American species, are seen, covering gen- 
tle slopes, and many broad acres of level land, where the 
government is endeavoring to establish artificial forests 
throughout wide reaches of unwooded country. These 
trees grow more rapidly here even than in their native soil. 
Small Maori encampments, composed of a dozen lodges 
each, are scattered along the way, the lazy tattooed natives 
— men and women — lingering about the stations, with 
blackened pipes in their mouths, smoking the rankest sort 
of tobacco, while they chatter together like Benares 
monkeys. 

The last part of this brief journey, that from Oxford to 
Ohinemutu., takes us through one of the grandest forests 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 99 

in all New Zealand, extending eighteen or twenty miles, 
with scarcely a human habitation or sign of life, save the 
cabin where we change horses, and the occasional flutter 
of a bird. In this forest, mingled with tall columnar trees 
of various species, are seen frequent exam.ples of the 
fern-tree thirty feet in height, and of surpassing beauty, 
spreading out their plumed summits like Egyptian palms, 
while the stems have the graceful inclination of the cocoa- 
nut-tree. The picturesque effect of the birches is remark- 
able, flanked by the massive outlines and drooping tassels 
of the rimu. For miles of the way on either side of the 
narrow road the forest is impenetrable even to the eye, 
save for the shortest distances, presenting a tangled mass 
of foliage, vines, and branches such as can be matched only 
by the virgin forests of Brazil, or the dangerous jungles of 
India. Ground ferns are observed in infinite variety, some- 
times of a silvery texture, sometimes of orange-yellow, but 
oftenest of the various shades of green. Here, too, we 
make acquaintance with the sweet-scented manuaka, the 
fragrant veronica, and the glossy-leaved karaka ; this last 
is the pride of the Maoris. 

Specimens of the lofty rimu-tree are seen, about whose 
tall white stems a parasitic vine (a plant which obtains its 
nourishment from another plant to which it attaches it- 
self) slowly and treacherously weaves itself, clasping and 
binding the upright body with such marvellous power of 
compression as literally to strangle it, until ultimately the 
vine becomes a stout tree and takes the place of that it 
has destroyed. The most noted and destructive of these 
vegetable boa-constrictors is the gigantic rope-like rata, 
whose Gordian knot nothing can untie. The tree once 
clasped in its toils is fated, yielding up its sap and life 



lOO FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

without a struggle to cast off its deadly enemy. Many 
trees are observed whose stems bear branches only, far 
above the surrounding woods, laden with bunches of alien 
foliage, — parasites like the mistletoe. Indeed, this forest 
seems like vegetation running riot, and with its clumps of 
dissimilar foliage fixed like storks' nests in the tops of the 
trees, recalling the same effect which one sees on the 
St. John's River in Florida. % 

Once fairly within the area of the Hot Lake District, 
which is the most active volcanic region of the Antipodes, 
nothing seems too strange to be true ; geysers, vapor-holes, 
boiling springs, and dry stones burning hot beneath one's 
feet, surround us, as though the surface of the land covered 
Nature's chemical laboratory. Sulphur, alkaline, and iron 
impregnated pools of inviting temperature cause one to 
indulge in frequent baths, and it seems but natural that 
the natives in their half-naked condition should pass so 
much time in the water. Near the shore of Lake Rotorua, 
where it is shallow, a boiling spring forces its way to 
the surface of the surrounding cold water, telling of a 
submerged fiery caldron underlying the lake at that par- 
ticular point. It is, however, no more significant than the 
scores of other steam-holes and spouting geysers which 
force themselves to the surface of the land all about this 
sulphurous region. In short, the little town of Ohinemutu 
is built on a thin crust, roofing over as it were a vast fiery 
furnace, whose remarkable volcanic eccentricities form the 
,marvel of this locality. Here, the traveller eats, drinks, 
and sleeps above a series of suppressed volcanoes, and is 
apt to recall the fate of Pompeii. Many of these springs 
and geysers are so hot that a mere touch of the water 
will blister the flesh as quickly as contact with red-hot 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. lOI 

iron. Others are of a temperature suitable for boiling 
vegetables ; and still others by artificial means — that is, 
the introduction of cold surface water — are rendered of a 
temperature suitable for bathing purposes. One must walk 
cautiously among these boiling mud-pits, open springs, and 
steam-holes, for a misstep might prove fatal. Dangerous 
caldrons lie on either side of the path, within a few inches 
of where one may be walking all unsuspiciously. 

The natural conclusion as to the cause of these remark- 
able phenomena would seem to be that the waters of the 
lakes, rivers, and springs descend by various channels to 
the fiery regions below, and are returned by the force of 
the steam thus created, bringing up with them the refuse 
which is deposited about the surface. Of the hundreds of 
these boiling springs only a score or so have been analyzed : 
no two, however, exhibit the same properties. The various 
chemical combinations seem to be without limit, and bath- 
ing in them is considered to be a specific for some skin- 
diseases, as well as for rheumatic affections. There can 
be no doubt but that all the medicinal virtues possessed 
by similar springs in Europe and America are found in 
these of New Zealand. 

Ohinemutu is the most typical home of the natives, and 
for ages has" formed the chief settlement of the Arawa 
tribe. Nothing could possibly be more grotesque than to 
see groups of the native women, from the wrinkled old 
grandams to the girls of a dozen years, bathing at all hours 
of the day in the warm, steaming pools. It is their daily, 
almost hourly resort. As a rule, a blanket forms their 
only covering ; and if they are cold, day or night, casting 
this aside, they at once resort to the hot springs for 
warmth. Their chief occupations are literally bathing and 



I02 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

smoking tobacco, the women using the pipe even more 
freely than the men. Of regular occupation they have 
none. A few potatoes are planted and allowed to grow 
without cultivation, and these with pork form their chief 
food. The little cooking in which they indulge is usually 
performed by the boiling springs, in which they hang their 
potatoes in small wicker baskets ; and for baking purposes 
they use the red-hot stones that are to be found every- 
where in this vicinity. These broad, flat stones are the 
identical ones on which the natives not long ago were ac- 
customed to roast their prisoners of war before eating 
them. 

A certain consistency is discovered in the manners and 
customs of this people who live so nearly after the style 
and laws which governed their ancestors, and which have 
been carefully preserved for hundreds of years. Supersti- 
tion is born in a Maori. He is a professed Christian in 
most cases and accepts the Bible, but he is apt to give 
to it his own interpretation. These children of Nature 
follow their ancestral traditions modified by Christian in- 
fluences. The original religion of the natives, if we may 
call it by that name, consists in a dim belief in a future 
state, quite undefined even in their own minds. It was 
largely a sort of ancestor worship, according to the mission- 
aries, with a vague idea of some Being higher than any- 
thing human or finite. The sorcery which was universally 
practised among them filled up a certain measure of relig- 
' ious conviction and observance, nor is this by any means 
disused among them to-day. Many of the tribes can read 
and write, and educational facilities are freely offered to 
the rising generation by the English government. 

The Maori differs in many essential particulars from 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 103 

most savage races with whom we are more famiUar. He 
does not, as has been mentioned, foster a spirit of secret 
revenge, but when his enmity is aroused, it is openly dis- 
played. This has been a tribal trait with the Maoris for 
centuries. Before declaring war the Maori always gives 
his enemy fair notice ; still for ages he has been accus- 
tomed to go to war upon imaginary grievances, or, to put it 
more clearly, his great object was to make prisoners of 
war, and when made to cook and eat them. The early 
Maoris, and even so late as sixty years ago, looked upon 
war — what we call civil war — as being the only legiti- 
mate object of life. 

Though these natives have mostly become Christianized, 
as we understand the term, still they live more like the 
lower class of animals than like human beings, seeming to 
prefer that sort of life even after half a century of inter- 
course with the whites. They now isolate themselves as 
a body in what is called the King's Country of the North 
Island, which embraces the Hot Lake District, where they 
live under their own laws and customs which are held 
inviolate by treaty with the English crown. Their decrease 
in numbers seems to be as rapid in their own district as it 
is where they are brought into more intimate relations 
with the whites. The English authorities respect their 
ownership of lands, and not an acre of it is to be had with- 
out just payment for it. 

No intelligent person can be bhnd to the favorable posi- 
tion of New Zealand or to the promise of its future com- 
mercial importance. Situated, as it were, in the centre of 
this Southern Ocean, the future highway of the world, it 
is accessible from all quarters. On the west, not very far 
away, lie the busy harbors of Australia, with which her 



104 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

exchanges of merchandise are constant. Within easy 
reach of India and China on one side, she has Cahfornia, 
Mexico, and South America on the other. To the north 
He the hundreds of islands which constitute the groups 
of Polynesia, notable for their voluptuous climate and 
primitive fertility. With the opening of the Panama 
Canal or other available means for ships to cross the 
isthmus of South America, New Zealand will lie directly 
in the highway between Europe and the gold-fields of the 
great inland continent, between England and her largest 
and most promising colony. 

The many beautiful islands of the South Sea must 
sooner or later come under the commercial sway of New 
Zealand, as they may be explored and civilized. Her 
admirable harbors, noble estuaries, and navigable rivers 
are elsewhere unsurpassed. If destined to achieve great- 
ness, these islands, like those of Great Britain, will do so 
through the development and maintenance of maritime 
power ; and with so many natural advantages as they 
possess we confidently predict for them this final ac- 
complishment. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 05 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FROM Auckland we take a steamer for Asia by way 
of Sydney and other ports of Australia, crossing the 
Indian Ocean and landing at the extreme southerly point 
of India, at Tuticorin. It is a quaint old place of little 
present interest, though it was once famous for its pearl 
fisheries. We proceed northward by railway to Madura, 
where, there being no hotel, we take up our quarters in 
an unoccupied native house, situated in a grove of cocoa- 
nut-trees. Flies, mosquitoes, and scorpions dispute posses- 
sion with us, and ugly-looking snakes creep close to the 
low piazza. Flying-foxes hang motionless from the 
branches of the trees ; clouds of butterflies, many-colored, 
sunshine-loving creatures, in infinite variety, flit about the 
bungalow, some with such gaudy spread of wing as to tempt 
pursuit. Large bronze and yellow beetles walk through the 
short grass with the coolness and gait of domestic poultry. 
Occasionally a chameleon turns up its bright eye, as though 
to take our measure. The redundancy of insect and rep- 
tile life is wonderful in Southern India. 

The principal attraction to the traveller in Madura, which 
contains some fifty thousand inhabitants, is a remarkable 
and very ancient temple supported by two thousand stone 
columns. It is probably one of the largest and finest 
monuments of Hindoo art in existence, covering in all its 
divisions, courts, shrines, colonnades, and tanks, twenty 
acres of ground. It has nine lofty tower-like gates of en- 



I06 FOOT-PRINTS OF TKAVFL ; OR, 

trance and exit, each one of which has the effect of form- 
ing an individual pagoda. In the central area of the tem- 
ple is what is known as the "Tank of the Golden Lily" 
being a large body of water covering a couple of acres of 
ground, and leading into which are broad stone steps on 
all sides. Here individuals of both sexes are seen con- 
stantly bathing for religious purification. A grand tank is 
the adjunct of every Indian temple. This mass of build- 
ings contains many living sacred elephants, deified bulls, 
enshrined idols, and strange ornamentation, the aggregate 
cost of which must have been enormous. The elephants 
rival the beggars in their importunities, being accustomed 
to receive an unlimited amount of delicacies from visitors, 
such as fruits, sweetmeats, candies, and the like. 

Another hundred miles northward by railway brings 
us to the city of Trichinopoly, where the famous natural 
rock five hundred feet in height is crowned by the Temple 
of Ganesa. The view from this eminence is exceptionally 
fine. The town far below us looks as though it had been 
shaken up and dropped there by a convulsion of nature. 
There is no regularity in the laying out of the place ; it is 
a confused mass of buildings, narrow paths, crooked roads, 
and low-built mud cabins. In what is called the silver- 
smith's quarter, amid filthy lanes, full of dirty children, 
mangy dogs, and moping cats, we find hovels containing 
finely wrought silver ornaments manufactured on the spot 
by the natives. So original and elegant are these wares 
that they have a reputation beyond the borders of India. 
Trichinopoly has over sixty thousand inhabitants. But 
however much there may be to interest us, we must not 
tarry long. Two hundred miles still northward bring us to 
Tanjore, a large fortified city, where we find a mammoth 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 07 

and gorgeously decorated car of Juggernaut, the Indian 
idol. It makes its annual excursion from the temple 
through the town, drawn by hundreds of worshippers, who 
come from great distances to assist at the ceremony. Pil- 
grims, delirious with fanaticism, used once to throw them- 
selves under the wheels of the huge car and perish. This 
self-immolation is now almost entirely suppressed by the 
government, as is the kindred one of the burning of wid- 
ows upon their husbands' funeral piles. From 18 15 to 
1826, published statistics show that fifteen thousand widows 
perished thus in India ! 

The great temple of Tanj ore is fourteen stories in height, 
and measures two hundred feet from base to top. These 
temples all resemble each other in general design, and are 
characterized by grotesqueness, caricature, and vulgar ima- 
ges, as well as by infinite detail in their finish. Though they 
are gorgeously decked in colors, and gross in ornamenta- 
tion, still they are so grand in size and on so costly a scale, 
as to create amazement rather than disgust. It would seem 
that a people equal to such efforts must have been capa- 
ble of something better. In all grosser forms of supersti- 
tion and idolatry, carnal and material elements seem to be 
essential to bind and attract the ignorant, and this is un- 
doubtedly the governing policy of a religion, embodying 
emblems so outrageous to Christian sensibility. This grand 
pagoda at Tanjore, taken as a whole, is the most remarka- 
ble religious monument in India. In passing through the 
southern section of the country, we see many ruined tem- 
ples in unpopulated districts, which belong to past ages ; 
many mammoth stone elephants and bulls, crumbling by 
the wear of centuries. Large flocks of goats tended by 
herdsmen are seen distributed over the plains, and so 



ro8 l^oor-PRiNTs of travel; or, 

level is the country, that the eye can make out these groups 
for miles away on either side of the railroad. Well-culti- 
vated plantations of sugar-cane, plantains, wheat, rice, and 
orchards of fruit come into view. The old style of irriga- 
tion goes on, by means of buckets worked by hand, the 
same as was practised in the East four thousand years ago, 
while the very plough, rude and inefficient, which is used 
upon their plains to-day is after the antique fashion belong- 
ing to the same period. Indeed, except that the railroad 
runs through Southern India, there appears to have been 
no progress there for thousands of years. A lethargy of 
the most hopeless character seems to possess the common 
people. Their mud cabins are not suitable abodes for 
human beings, and are distanced in neatness by the ant- 
hills. Such a degraded condition of humanity can hardly 
be found elsewhere among semi-civilized races. The 
women are worn by hardships. The men are cadaverous 
and listless. Clothing among them is the exception ; 
nudity is the rule. It seems strange, but it is true, that 
one-quarter of the human race goes naked in this nine- 
teenth century. 

A day's journey northward by railroad brings us to Madras, 
situated upon the Bay of Bengal. The city is spread 
out over a very large territory, with a number of broad, 
open fields and squares, designed for drilling of troops, 
some for ball-players, and some for ordinary parks. There 
is an abundant and handsome growth of trees all about the 
city, lining the main streets and testifying to the judicious 
attention given by the authorities to this species of orna- 
mental shade so necessary in a warm climate. The wide 
streets are admirably kept, and are all macadamized. This 
applies, however, to the European portion of the town. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. IO9 

with its fine, large public buildings, consisting of literary 
and scientific institutions as well as various educational 
and charitable ones. The native portion of Madras is con- 
tracted and dirty in the extreme, no attention being given 
to cleanliness or decency. The extensive English fort 
— Fort George — is one of the best constructed in the 
East, forming a most prominent feature of the city, and 
crowning a moderate rise of ground near the shore. Its 
attractive though warlike surroundings, white walls, flower 
plats, and green, sloping banks present a charming picture. 
Fort George was the original name of the city. A noble 
lighthouse is situated within the fortifications. Near this 
spot, along the coast to the northward, are the rock-cut 
temples of Mahabulihuram rendered familiar by Southey's 
admirable verses. 

Dancing-girls are to be seen here, on the streets. They 
are attached to some native temple, as no religious cere- 
mony or gala day is considered complete without them; 
and the same may be said of all large private entertain- 
ments, no guests ever dancing in the East. They prefer 
to hire it done for them. These Indian dancing-girls, 
with a musical accompaniment, tell a story by their per- 
formance, expressing grief, joy, jealousy, and other passions 
so well portrayed, that one easily interprets the panto- 
mime. They preserve strict propriety in their dances, 
which are curious to witness, their ankles being covered with 
silver bells, and their wrists and arms similarly decked. 

No more unprotected spot could be found on the surf- 
beaten shore of the Coromandel coast than this where 
stands Madras. It is so completely exposed to the north- 
east monsoons as to be inaccessible for sailing-vessels from 
October to January, and yet it was the first British capital 



no FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

in India. There is usually such a surf on the shore that 
nothing but the native boats can weather it ; and when high 
winds prevail, it is too much even for them. We embark 
by steamship from Madras, and after a voyage of nearly a 
thousand miles up the coast and Hoogly River, land at 
Calcutta, which is the political capital of India, though 
since the Suez Canal has been opened, Bombay rivals it 
commercially. 

Calcutta is a very interesting city, very Indian, notwith- 
standing that so many Europeans live here, and that it has 
so long been under English rule, but it is by no means 
entitled to the designation so often given to it, namely, 
the " City of Palaces." It is quite modern, having no 
remains of antiquity about it, and in 1686 was but a mud 
village. As seen from the Hoogly, when one first arrives, 
it exhibits a strong array of fine public buildings ; but a 
passage of a few rods, diverging from the main thorough- 
fare, brings the visitor upon the dirty streets, the mean 
and narrow houses, and general squalor of the native 
population. 

The Burning Ghat, where cremation is going on at all 
hours of the day, is the first place the stranger visits. 
The bodies are brought in and placed upon a square pile 
of wood, raised to a height of four feet, in the open yard. 
Under the wood there is plenty of combustible material ; 
the torch is applied, and instantly all is hidden by the 
flames. In three hours nothing but calcined bones and 
ashes are left. These are carefully gathered and cast into 
the river. The Ghat is open to the sky, so that the ven- 
tilation is perfect, but the atmosphere is nevertheless im- 
pregnated with an unpleasant odor. The Hoogly River 
being one of the outlets of the much-revered Ganges, is 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. Ill 

considered to be equally sacred. Close by the Burning 
Ghat, along the river's front, there is a number of sheds, 
with only partial shelter from the street, where poor dying 
Hindoos are brought to breathe their last, beheving that 
if they pass away close to the sacred water, their spirits 
will be instantly wafted to the regions of bliss. Here 
they are attended by people who make this their business, 
and it is believed that they often hasten the demise of the 
sufferers by convenient means. Human life is held of 
very little account among these people, whose faith bridges 
the gulf of death, and who were at one time so prone 
to suicide by drowning in the Ganges, as to render it 
necessary on the part of the English to establish watch- 
men every night along the city shore of the sacred river 
to prevent it. 

At the close of each day, about an hour before sunset, 
all fashionable Calcutta turns out in state for a drive on 
the Maiden, — the Hindoostanee name for esplanade, — 
a broad and finely macadamized roadway, extending along 
the river's bank by the fort and cricket grounds. It is 
the Indian Hyde Park, or Bengal Champs Elysees (the 
famous Parisian boulevard). The variety, elegance, and 
costliness of the equipages in grand livery are surprising. 
The whole scene is enlivened by the beautiful dresses of 
the ladies, the dashing costumes and gold lace of the 
nabobs, the quaint Oriental dress of their barefooted 
attendants, and the spirited music of the military band. 
The superb horses in their gold-mounted harnesses dash 
over the course at a spirited gait ; the twilight hour is 
brief, the shadows lengthen, when a hundred electric 
lamps flash upon the scene, rivalling the light of day. 
Then the occupants of the open vehicles, and the eques- 



112 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

trians, gather about the Eden Garden, in rows, six or eight 
deep, and listen to the popular airs, or chat merrily in the 
intervals. The Cascine at Florence, the Pincio at Rome, 
the Chiaja at Naples, the Prado at Madrid — none of these 
famous drives can compare with the Maiden of Calcutta 
for gayety, variety, and attractiveness. 

Calcutta is said to contain a population of a million. 
It is sometimes visited by cyclones, and the fierceness of 
these warrings of the elements may be judged by the 
fact that at the last occurrence of the sort thirty thousand 
native houses were totally destroyed in half an hour. The 
Hoogly River often experiences the effect of tidal waves 
during the monsoons, which dash up from the sea at a 
speed of twenty miles an hour, causing much destruction. 
Ships lying off the city on such occasions often part their 
cables and are driven on shore, while many of the small 
craft along the eighty miles of river course are entirely 
destroyed. 

A journey of four hundred miles to the northward, the 
last half of which is performed by narrow-gauge railway, 
which climbs zigzag fashion over a very hilly country, 
will enable us to reach Darjeeling, nearly nine thousand 
feet above the level of the sea. Here we are in proximity 
to and in full view of the Himalayan range of mountains, 
the loftiest on the globe. The lowest peak is over twenty 
thousand feet in height ; the highest exceeds twenty-eight 
thousand. Upon the range rest eleven thousand feet of 
perpetual snow. There can be no animal life in that 
Arctic region — only the snow and ice rest there in end- 
less sleep. The Himalayas — meaning the " Halls of 
Snow" — form the northern boundary of India, and shut 
out the country from the rest of Asia. Thibet, which lies 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 113 

just over the range, whence we view it, is virtually in- 
accessible by this route, the wild region between being 
nearly impassable. Bold parties of traders, wrapped in 
sheepskins, do sometimes force their way over the moun- 
tains at an elevation of eighteen thousand feet, but it is a 
most hazardous thing to do, and the bones of worn-out 
mules mark the frozen way, telling of suffering and aban- 
donment. The little yak cow, whose bushy tail is manu- 
factured into lace, has been found to be the best and most 
enduring animal to depend upon when such journeys are 
performed. She will patiently toil up the steep gorges 
with a load on her back, and will drop dead in her tracks 
before she will show any stubbornness or want of courage. 
The culminating point of the range, and the highest moun- 
tain peak in the world, is Mount Everest, which is a little 
over twenty-nine thousand feet in height above the level 
of the sea. 

Darjeeling is becoming the centre of a great tea-produc- 
ing district, and thus India bids fair to rival China in a prod- 
uct which has seemed to belong almost exclusively to China 
from time immemorial. English capitalists are largely em- 
barking in this enterprise, and extensive tea-plantations are 
already in full process of successful yielding, sending tea 
annually to the London market. At first it seems strange 
to see the tea-plant flourishing at such an altitude, covering 
hundreds of acres of the mountain's sides, on the road de- 
scending from Darjeeling, towards the plains of Hindoostan, 
but it must be remembered that the latitude of this region 
is just about that of Florida and the West Indies. As to 
the product of these tea-fields, one realizes no difference 
in its flavor from that of the Chinese leaf. In England 
it is known as Assam tea. 



114 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

As we descend towards the level country, amid many 
other flowering trees, the magnolia is most prominent. 
The wild and abundant growth of the rhododendron, which 
here becomes a forest tree, mingles with a handsome 
species of cedar, which rises in dark and stately groups and 
forms a marked feature in the landscape. The general 
luxuriance of the vegetation is conspicuous, thickly cloth- 
ing the branches of the trees with mosses, ferns, and creep- 
ing vines. Here we observe the cotton-tree, with its red 
blossoms, which yields a coarse material for native use. 
Also a species of lotus called "Queen of the Forest," the 
leaves of which are used by the common people in place 
of tea. Many bright and exquisitely delicate ferns spring 
up among the damp undergrowth about the places where 
we stop to take water for our little, noisy, spluttering 
engine. Brilliant butterflies float like motes in the sun- 
shine, contrasting with the repulsive whip-snakes seen 
hanging from the low branches of the trees. Vegeta- 
tion and animal life seem to be singularly abundant and 
prolific in these foot-hills of the famous mountain range. 

Our course now lies towards Benares, over the plains of 
Middle India, some five hundred miles from Calcutta. The 
people on the route seem to be wretchedly poor, living in 
the most primitive mud cabins thatched with straw. Such 
squalor and visible poverty can be found nowhere else in 
any country outside of Ireland, and yet we are passing 
through a famous agricultural district which ought to sup- 
port thrifty farmhouses and smiling villages. It abounds 
in productive rice, wheat, sugar-cane, and vast poppy fields, 
— these last treacherously beautiful, — and from which the 
opium of commerce is derived. The presence of such 
abundance makes the contrast in the condition of the 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. II5 

peasantry all the more puzzling. There must be some- 
thing radically wrong in the modes of the governing 
power. This part of India is noted for the excellence and 
prolific yield of its sugar crops. From here, also, indigo 
and saltpetre are exported in large quantities. Along the 
route traversed by the railway we see fruit-trees of various 
sorts native to this section, such as tamarinds, almonds, 
mangos, oranges, cocoanuts, and other products of the 
palm family. Temples, centuries in age and quite in ruins, 
come into view now and again, often adjacent to a cluster 
of low mud hovels. From the branches of the trees flit 
birds of such fantastic colors as to cause exclamations of 
surprise. Occasional specimens of the bird-of-paradise 
are seen, with its long and graceful tail-feathers glittering 
in the sunshine and presenting an array of bright colors 
which are not preserved upon this bird in captivity. Tall 
flamingoes in snowy plumage, just touched with scarlet 
on either wing, fly lazily over the ponds, or stand by the 
banks resting quietly upon one long, slim leg. Parrots 
abound in carnival hues, and buff-colored doves, with soft 
white rings of feathers about their necks, coquet lovingly 
together. 

Benares, the first large city on the united Ganges and 
Jumna, may be called the citadel of Hindooism, containing 
about a hundred and fifty thousand permanent inhabitants 
and as many more floating population, composed of pilgrims 
constantly coming and going. What Jerusalem is to the 
Jew, Rome to the Roman Catholic, Mecca to the Moham- 
medan, Benares is to the Hindoo. It is supposed by many 
to be the oldest known habitation of man. Twenty-five 
centuries ago, when Rome was unknown and Athens was 
in its youth, Benares was already famous. It is situated 



Il6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

on the left bank of the Ganges, to bathe in which river 
insures to the devout Hindoo forgiveness of all sins and an 
easy passport to the regions of the blest. Here, as in Cal- 
cutta, cremation is constantly going on beside the river. 
While we are looking at the scene there comes a family 
group bearing a body to the funeral pile. It is covered by 
a linen sheet. In the folded hands are white rosebuds, and 
orange blossoms encircle the marble brow. There is no 
apparent lack of heart-felt grief. It is the body of a young 
maiden decked for her bridal with death. After a few 
moments the red flames wind themselves ravenously about 
the youthful body, and quickly all is blackness and ashes. 
Benares is mostly supported by the presence of pilgrims, 
but there is manufactured here a brass ware of such ex- 
quisite finish as to defy competition. In her dark alleys 
and narrow lanes they also produce a fine article of sil- 
ver embroidery of marvellous delicacy and beauty, greatly 
prized by travellers as a souvenir. The pilgrims who 
participate in the river scenes are by no means all of the 
lower classes ; now and then a gorgeously dressed official 
may be seen, with a long line of attendants, wending his 
steps towards the river's front. Infirm old men and little 
children, crazy-looking devotees and comely youths, boys 
and girls, people of all ages and degrees, are represented in 
the motley groups who come to these muddy waters for 
moral purification. There is a singular mingling of races 
also, for these people do not all speak one tongue. They are 
from the extreme north and the extreme south of India, 
while the half-starved vagrants seen among them, and who 
come from Middle India, could not make themselves un- 
derstood by people from either extreme. A common pur- 
pose moves them, but they cannot express themselves in 



yOURNEYINGS lAT MANY LANDS. 11/ 

a common language. Pilgrims are here from Thibet and 
Cashmere, from the far-off Himalayan country, as well as 
from Tuticorin, on the Indian Ocean. Numberless idols 
and symbols of the most vulgar character abound all over' 
the town, in small temples, before which men and women 
bow down in silent devotion. Idolatry is here seen in its 
most repulsive form. The delusion, however, is perfect, 
and these poor creatures are terribly in earnest. 

Animals are worshipped, such as bulls, snakes, monkeys, 
and pigeons. One of the peculiar temples of the city is 
devoted solely to the worship of monkeys, where hundreds 
of these mischievous animals find a luxurious home, no one 
ever interfering with their whims except to pet and to feed 
them. This temple contains a singular altar, before which 
devotional rites are performed by believing visitors. On 
the Ghats, beside the river, these Hindoos pass the hap- 
piest hours of their sad lives, coming from the confined, 
dirty, unwholesome streets and alleys in which they sleep 
and eat, to pray and to bathe, as well as to breathe the 
fresh air and to bask in the sun. The hideous fakirs, or 
begging Oriental monks, make their fixed abode here, living 
entirely in the open air, most of them diseased, and all 
misshapen by voluntarily acquired deformity. Their dis- 
torted limbs are fixed in attitudes of penance until they 
become set and immovable. There are pious believers 
enough to kneel before them and to give them food and 
money by which means to support their strange and 
fanatical self-immolation. 

We visit at Benares an ancient observatory of more than 
ordinary interest, erected by a famous Hindoo patron of 
science, Rajah Manu. Though it is now quite neglected 
and in partial ruins, a sun-dial, a zodiac, meridian lines. 



Il8 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and astronomical appliances are still distinctly traced upon 
heavy stones arranged for celestial observations. This 
proves that astronomy was well advanced at Benares hun- 
dreds of years before Galileo was born, and it will be re- 
membered that the astronomers of India first settled the 
fact of the rotation of the earth. The Man-Mundil, as 
this observatory is called, forms a most important historic 
link between the days of the Pharaohs and the nineteenth 
century. 

Five hundred miles of travel by way of Cawnpore will 
bring us to Delhi, where a visit to the crumbling palace of 
the late king will show us the remains of that famous Pea- 
cock Throne, the marvel of the world when the Mogul 
dynasty was at its zenith — a throne of solid gold, orna- 
mented with rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, the aggregate 
value of which was thirty million dollars. It was six feet 
long and four feet broad, surmounted by a gold canopy 
supported by twelve pillars composed of the same precious 
metal. The back of the throne was so constructed as to 
represent a peacock with expanded tail, the natural colors 
of which were exactly imitated with rubies, sapphires, dia- 
monds, and other precious stones. Delhi was for centu- 
ries the proudest metropolis of India ; within a circle of 
twenty miles of the present locality, one city after another 
has established its capital, ruled in splendor, and passed 
away. One monument, which we find in the environs, 
has thus far defied the destructive finger of time, — the 
Katub-Minar, which stands alone amid hoary ruins, the 
loftiest single column in the world, but of which there is 
no satisfactory record. It is not inappropriately con- 
sidered one of the greatest architectural marvels of India, 
and whoever erected it achieved a triumph of gracefulness 




= _ Q. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 19 

and skill. It is built of red stone elaborately ornamented 
in the form of a minaret, measuring about fifty feet in 
diameter at the base and ten at the top, with a height from 
the ground of two hundred and fifty feet, divided into five 
stories, each fitted with an outer gallery and adorned with 
colossal inscriptions. The whole exterior is fluted from 
base to top, narrowing gradually towards the summit. 

In the broad main thoroughfare of Delhi — the Chandni 
Chowk — one constantly meets ponderous elephants, sol- 
emn and avv^kward camels, fine Arabian horses, and the 
diminutive, toy-like ponies of Cashmere. Daily marriage 
processions of the most fantastic description crowd the 
roadway, with the animals just named caparisoned in a 
gaudy, harlequin style, accompanied by unskilled musicians 
on foot, whose qualifications evidently consist in being 
able to make the greatest amount of noise upon a drum, 
fife, or horn, which are the three instruments employed on 
these occasions. Some of the white horses in the pro- 
cessions are painted in parts, sky-blue, and some are 
decked with saffron-yellow. In the ranks are covered 
bullock-carts with peep-holes, in which ride the women of 
the harem. Mingled with these are men bearing banners 
with Hindoo mottoes and ludicrous. caricatures, half human 
and half animal. This is called a marriage procession, 
but upon careful inquiry it is found to be only a betrothal 
of children too young to marry. The boy-bridegroom 
appears upon an elephant, and is dressed like a circus 
rider ; but the future bride, probably a little girl of six or 
eight years, does not appear : she remains at home to be 
called upon by this motley crowd, when a brief ceremony 
takes place, — presents being duly exchanged, — and the 
farce is then ended. 



120 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

A journey of nine hundred miles, still over these broad 
plains of India, will bring us to the city of Agra, which, 
Kke Delhi, stands not on the Ganges, but on its great 
tributary, the Jumna. It is an important city, containing 
over forty thousand inhabitants. To all who visit this place 
the first object of interest will be the Taj (pronounced 
Tahj) Mahal, or tomb of the wife of the Emperor Shah- 
Jehan. It is the most interesting edifice in India and 
one of the most beautiful in the world. A tomb in this 
country means a magnificent structure of marble, with 
domes and minarets, the walls inlaid with precious stones, 
and the whole surrounded by gardens, fountains, and arti- 
ficial lakes, covering from ten to twenty acres. Cheap 
as labor is in India, the Taj must have cost some fifteen 
millions of dollars, and was seventeen years in building. 
The Mogul Emperor resolved to erect the most superb 
monument ever reared to commemorate a woman's 
name, and he succeeded, for herein Mohammedan archi- 
tecture reached its height. The mausoleum is situated in 
a spacious garden, the equal of which can hardly be found 
elsewhere, beautiful to the eye and delightful to the senses, 
with fragrant flowers, exotic and indigenous. This grand 
structure, with the ripeness of centuries upon it, is no 
ruin ; all is fragrant and fresh as at the hour when it was 
completed. It is of white marble, three hundred feet in 
height, the principal dome being eighty feet high, and of 
such exquisite form and harmony is the whole that it 
seems almost to float in the air. 

In the centre of the Taj, beneath the glorious dome, 
are two raised and ornamented marble frames, covering 
the resting-place of the emperor and his wife. How 
appropriate is the inscription at the threshold : " To the 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 12 1 

memory of an undying love." As we stand beneath the 
cupola, let us repeat in a low tone of voice a verse from 
Longfellow's "Psalm of Life"; instantly there will roll 
through the dimly lighted vault above a soft and solemn 
repetition, which will sound as though voices were repeat- 
ing the psalm in the skies. Nothing finer or more lovely 
in architecture exists than this faultless monument, this 
ideal of Saracenic art. 

By consulting a map of India it will be seen that few 
regions in the world present such an array of remarkable 
cities as have sprung up and flourished in the Ganges- 
Jumna valley. Here we have Agra, Delhi, Cawnpore, 
Lucknow, Allahabad, Benares, Mirozapur, Patna, Decca, 
and Murshedabad. What historic associations arise at 
the bare mention of these Indian cities ! 



FO 07 -PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER IX. 

ON our way southward we pass through the beautiful, 
though small Indian city of Jeypore, which is under 
native rule; those we have heretofore visited are subject 
to Great Britain. It is quite ancient, though there are no 
ruins here, everything giving evidence of present pros- 
perity, peace, and abundance. The houses are painted in 
rather gaudy colors, but are neat and pretty. Queer little 
canvas-covered, two-wheeled carts, their tops shaped like 
half an egg-shell, are drawn about the town by bullocks 
at a lively trot. Some are closely curtained, containing 
women of the harem. Oriental seclusion is the rule with 
the women. Under the prince who rules here the popula- 
tion exhibits a marked contrast to those of India generally, 
over which the authority of England extends. There are 
no mud cabins here, no beggars, no visible want or poverty. 
The people are decently clothed, and well lodged in neat- 
looking houses, mostly two stories in height. The streets 
are broad and well kept, with bright, bubbling fountains 
here and there. Our excursions in this neighborhood are 
made upon camels or elephants. Wild animals are abun- 
dant, the tiger especially being much dreaded. Here, as at 
Singapore, men, women and children are daily sacrificed 
to their rapacious appetites in various parts of the district. 
It is said to be a fact, that these animals having once tasted 
human flesh, will be satisfied with none other, but will 
leave the antelope and smaller game unmolested, though 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 123 

they are known to abound in the vicinity, and He in wait 
for days to capture human prey, even invading the villages 
at night. English hunters visit Jeypore in large numbers 
annually to capture this dangerous game. 

From this native city to Bombay is a distance of seven 
hundred miles by railway, most of the route being very 
sparsely inhabited. The larger portion of India is an 
immense plain, so that the road is generally very monot- 
onous. Nearly seven hundred thousand acres of these 
plains are cultivated with poppies. A large share of these 
opium farms, as they may be called, belong to the English 
government, and are cultivated by their agents. Those 
which are conducted on private account are very heavily 
taxed, and are mostly carried on in the interest of the 
Parsee merchants of Bombay, who have for many years 
controlled the largest share of the opium trade. We fre- 
quently see near these gorgeous poppy-fields ripening 
acres of grain, which would be stripped of their valua- 
ble property by the great flocks of birds, noticed at all 
times, floating like clouds over our heads, were precautions 
not taken to drive them away. For this purpose a tall 
platform is raised upon poles to a height of twenty feet 
in the centre of each grain-field, with a slight straw shelter 
over it, upon which a young boy or girl is stationed, and 
whence they overlook several acres of grain. They have 
no firearms, but are supplied with a simple sling and a 
few well-chosen stones : should a bird be seen too near 
the precious grain, an unerring stone will find him, and 
his body becomes a warning to the rest of the flock. The 
precision with which these girls and boys will throw a 
stone a long distance is marvellous. The monkeys which 
so abound in Southern India are not to be got rid of in so 



124 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

easy a manner. Birds will not fly after dark, nor much 
before sunrise, but the monkeys raid the fruit and vege- 
table fields by night, and are capable of organizing a descent 
upon some promising point with all the forethought of 
human thieves. 

The opening of communication with England by the 
Red Sea route has given to Bombay a great business 
impetus, and it possesses to-day more elements of future 
greatness than any other city of Asia. The two principal 
capitals of the country are situated on opposite sides of 
the great peninsula, Calcutta being on the Bay of Bengal, 
and Bombay on the Sea of Arabia. We have in the latter 
a population of a million and over, one hundred thousand 
of whom are Parsees, a class of merchants originally from 
Persia, who represent a large share of the wealth of the 
city. They are by far the most enterprising and intelli- 
gent of the natives of India, and are in entire sympathy 
with the English government. Socially, they keep to 
themselves, strictly preserving their well-defined individ- 
uality. This people settled here more than eight centu- 
ries ago, after their expulsion from Persia. Their temples 
contain no images, nothing but the altars bearing the 
sacred fire which their fathers brought with them when 
they landed here so long ago, and which has never been 
extinguished, according to their traditions. They worship 
the sun as the representative of God, and fire in all its 
forms, as well as the ocean, which would seem to be an 
antagonistic agent ; but as their religion recognizes one 
good and one evil principle ever contending for the 
mastery of the universe, perhaps these emblems are no 
contradiction. 

One of the first places to which we are attracted in 



JOURNEYINGS IN AIANY LANDS. 125 

Bombay is Malabar Hill, a lofty eminence just outside the 
city. On the top are the five famous " Towers of Silence," 
which constitute the cemetery of the Parsees. When a 
death occurs among them, the body is brought here, and 
after a brief ceremony the corpse is carried into one of the 
towers, where it is exposed upon a grating. The bearers 
retire at once, and the door is locked. These towers are 
open at the top, and on the cornices hundreds of vultures 
are seen waiting ; as soon as the body is left, they swoop 
down to their awful meal, eagerly tearing and devouring 
the corpse. The hideous detail is not visible, but the 
reappearance of those evil birds in a gorged condition is 
only too significant of what has occurred. The devouring 
flames which consumed the bodies at Calcutta and at 
Benares did not shock us like this. 

Bombay is made up of fine public buildings, sumptuous 
dwellings, and low hovels, not mingled indiscriminately, as 
is often seen in European cities, each class being found 
clustering in its special locality. In Florence, Rome, or 
Naples, a half-starved cobbler will be found occupying a 
stall beneath a palace ; but though poverty and riches 
jostle each other everywhere, the lines of demarcation are 
more clearly defined in Bombay than elsewhere. A drive 
along the picturesque shore of the Arabian Sea is an 
experience never to be forgotten. It will be sure to 
recall to the traveller the beautiful environs of Genoa, with 
those winding, rock-cut roads overlooking the Mediter- 
ranean Sea. Here the roads are admirably cool and half- 
embowered in foliage, among which the crimson sagittaria 
flaunting its fiery leaves and ponderous blossoms, every- 
where meets the eye. About the fine villas which are set 
back a short distance from the roads, delightful gardens of 



126 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

choice flowers are seen, comprising an abundance of tropi- 
cal plants, tall palms lining the drive-ways up to the houses, 
where the merchant princes dwell. Most of these are the 
residences of the Parsees, who in spite of their bigotry and 
their adherence to ancient superstitions, know how to make 
their homes beautiful. 

In leaving India, a few thoughts naturally suggest them- 
selves. Its history runs back through thousands of years 
and remotest dynasties, captivating the fancy with number- 
less ruins, which, while attesting the splendor of their 
prime, form also the only record of their history. The 
mosaic character of its population, the peculiarities of its 
animal kingdom, the luxuriance of its vegetation, the 
dazzling beauty of its birds and flowers, all crowd upon 
the memory in charming kaleidoscopic combinations. 
There can be no doubt of the early grandeur and high 
civilization of India. To the intellectual eminence of her 
people we owe the germs of science, philosophy, law, and 
astronomy. The most perfect of all tongues, the Sanskrit, 
has been the parent of many others, and now that her 
lustre has faded, and her children fallen into a condition of 
sloth and superstition, let us, at least, do her historic 
justice. Nor should we neglect to heed the lesson she so 
clearly presents ; namely, that nations, like individuals, are 
subject to the unvarying laws of mutability. 

The government of India is a military despotism, Eng- 
land maintaining her rule by force alone over a foreign 
people numbering four times as many as the whole popula- 
tion of the United States. Order is preserved at a cruel 
cost of life among an entire race who are totally unrepre- 
sented. In travelling from city to city one is not surprised 
to see many signs of restlessness among the common 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 12/ 

people, and to hear harsh expressions against British rule. 
While we recall with a thrill of horror the awful cruelties 
and the slaughter of human beings during the rebellion of 
the native race against the English authority in 1857, we 
do not wonder that a people, so goaded by oppression, 
should have made a vigorous and bloody struggle to obtain 
their independence. 

We embark at Bombay on a voyage of three thousand 
miles across the Sea of Arabia and the Indian Ocean, 
through the Straits of Babelmandeb and the entire length 
of the Red Sea. The most southerly point of the voyage, 
taking us within fourteen degrees of the equator, carries 
us into an extremely warm temperature. The ship holds 
on her southwest course day after day, lightly fanned by 
the northeast monsoon, towards the mouth of the Red Sea. 
At the end of the sixth day we cast anchor at the Penin- 
sula of Aden, a rocky, isolated spot held by English troops, 
and very properly called the Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean. 
Like that famous promontory, it was originally little more 
than a barren rock, which has been improved into a pic- 
turesque and habitable place, bristling with British cannon 
of heavy calibre. It is a spot much dreaded by sailors, 
the straits being half closed by sunken rocks, besides which 
the shore is considered to be the most unhealthy spot yet 
selected by civilized man as a residence. The Arabs call 
the strait Babelmandeb, that is, the "Gate of Tears," be- 
cause of the number of vessels which have been wrecked 
here in the endeavor to enter from the open sea. Aden 
lies within the rainless zone, so that sometimes the inhabi- 
tants see no rainfall for three years together. The remains 
of an ancient and magnificent system of reservoirs hewn 
out of the solid rock, are seen here, the construction of 



128 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

which is placed at a date previous to the Christian era, and 
which have been adapted to modern use. 

As we lie at anchor here, there come about the ship a 
score of young natives, from ten to fifteen years of age. 
By eloquent gestures, and the use of a few English words, 
they beg of us to throw small silver coin into the sea, for 
which they will dive in water that is at least seven fathoms 
deep. The instant a piece of money is thrown overboard, 
every canoe becomes emptied, and twenty human beings 
disappear from sight like a flash. Down, down go the 
divers, and in the depths struggle together for the trifle, 
some one of the throng being sure to rise to the surface 
with the coin displayed between his teeth. Nothing but 
otters and seals could be keener sighted or more expert in 
the water. 

The general aspect of Aden from the sea, though pic- 
turesque, is not inviting, giving one an idea of great barren- 
ness. The mountains and rocks have a peaked appearance, 
like a spear pointed at one, as much as to say, " better 
keep off." People who land, however, for the first time," 
are agreeably disappointed by finding that every oppor- 
tunity for encouraging the growth of vegetation and im- 
parting its cheerful effect to the hard rocky soil has been 
carefully improved. 

Our course after leaving Aden is nearly north ; the 
headlands of Abyssinia are long visible on our port side, 
while on the other we have a distant view of Arabia. 
Jeddah, the seaport of Mecca, with its bright minarets, is 
to be seen in the distance. In coasting along the shores of 
Nubia, the dense air from off the land is like a sirocco, 
suffocatingly hot. Suez is reached at last, a place which is 
all waste and barrenness, so we hasten on by railway to 
Cairo, a distance of two hundred miles. 




Page 129. 



A WELL IN THE DESERT BETWEEN SUEZ AND CAIRO. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 129 

Long after leaving Suez we see only a sandy desert, the 
yellow soil quivering in the heated atmosphere. It is a pic- 
ture of desolation. Not a blade of grass, not a shrub or tree, 
until by and by we come upon gently undulating and fertile 
soil, enriched by the annual deposits from the Nile, where 
intelligent cultivation produces its natural results. Small 
herds of brown buffaloes or Eastern oxen are seen, and 
peasants plying the irrigating-buckets. The pastures be- 
come alive with sheep and goats and dromedaries. While 
we are approaching Cairo, and are yet two or three leagues 
away, the dim outlines of the everlasting pyramids are seen 
through the shimmering haze, softly outlined against the 
evening sky. It is impossible not to recall the words of 
the Humpback, in the Thousand and One Nights, as we 
see the pyramids and glistening minarets of the Oriental 
city coming into view ; " He who hath not seen Cairo hath 
not seen the world ; its soil is golden ; its Nile is a wonder ; 
its women are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise ; its 
houses are palaces ; and its air is soft, — its odor surpass- 
ing that of aloes-wood and cheering the heart, — and how 
can Cairo be otherwise, when it is the Mother of the 
world } " 

This ideal city of the Arabian Nights is very Oriental, 
very original, very curious. Its four hundred thousand 
souls form a strange conglomerate of humanity. In its 
narrow, picturesque streets one is jostled by gayly dressed 
Greeks and cunning Jews, by overladen donkeys and by 
sober, mournful-looking camels. One half expects to meet 
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, as we still look for Antonio 
and the Jew on the Rialto at Venice. Like Paris, Cairo is 
a city of cafes. During the evening and far into the night 
crowds of individuals of every nationality are seen seated 



130 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

in groups before them in the open air, drinking every sort 
of known liquid, but coffee takes precedence of all others. 
In picturesqueness of costume the Turk leads the world. 
His graceful turban and flowing robes are worthy of the 
classic antique, while the rich contrast of colors which he 
wears adds to the striking effect. As he sits cross-legged be- 
fore his open bazaar, or shop, smoking a long pipe, he looks 
very wise, very learned, though in point of fact there is no 
doubt more intelligence under the straw hat of a Yankee 
peddler than under three average turbans. The dark, 
narrow lanes and endless zigzag alleys have an indescrib- 
able interest, with their accumulated dirt of neglect and the 
dust of a land where rain is so seldom known. One looks 
up in passing at those overhanging balconies, imagining 
the fate of the harem-secluded women behind them, oc- 
casionally catching stolen glances from curious eyes peer- 
ing between the lattices. 

Egyptian porters, bent half double, are seen carrying on 
their backs loads that would stagger a brewer's horse. 
Women, who ride their horses and mules astride, are very 
careful to cover their faces from view, while their eyes 
gleam out of peep-holes. Other women, of a humbler class, 
jostle us in the streets, with little naked children straddHng 
one shoulder, and holding on to the mother's head with 
both hands. People who ride upon donkeys require a boy 
to follow behind them with a stick to belabor the poor 
overladen creatures, without which they will not move for- 
ward, being so trained. Those who drive through the 
streets in carriages are preceded by a gorgeously draped 
runner bearing a white wand, and who constantly cries to 
clear the way. These runners go as fast as a horse usually 
trots, and seem never to tire. The common people lie 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 131 

down on the sidewalk, beside the road, in any nook or 
corner, to sleep off fatigue, just as a dog might do. Every 
public square has its fountain, and there are two hundred 
in Cairo. 

The bazaars present a novel aspect. Here an old 
bearded Turk offers for sale odors, curious pastes and 
essences, with kohl for shading about the eyes, and henna 
dye for the fingers. Another has various ornaments 
of sandal wood, delicately wrought fans, and other trifles. 
His next-door neighbor, whose quarters are only a degree 
more dingy, offers pipes, curiously made, with carved 
amber mouthpieces, and others with long, flexible, silken 
tubes. Turbaned crowds stroll leisurely about. Now a 
strong and wiry Bedouin passes, leading his horse and 
taking count of everything with his sharp, black eyes, and 
now a Nile boatman. Yonder is an Abyssinian slave, 
and beyond is an Egyptian trader, with here and there a 
Greek or a Maltese. Amid it all one feels curious as to 
where Aladdin's uncle may be just now, with his new lamjos 
to exchange for old ones. We will ascend the loftiest 
point of this Arabian city to obtain a more comprehensive 
view. 

The mosque of Mehemet Ali, with its tapering minarets, 
overlooks Cairo, and is itself a very remarkable and beauti- 
ful edifice. This spacious building is lined throughout 
with Oriental alabaster, the exterior being covered with 
the same costly material. It contains the sarcophagus 
of Mehemet Ali, the most enlightened of modern rulers, 
before which lamps are burning perpetually. The interior 
of this mosque is the most effective, architecturally, of any 
temple in the East. There is a height and breadth, and 
a solemn dignity in its aspect, which cannot fail to impress 



132 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

every visitor. The exterior is much less striking, yet it is 
admirably balanced and harmonized. The situation of the 
mosque commands one of the most interesting views that 
can be conceived of. The city, with its countless minarets 
and domed mosques, its public buildings, and tree-adorned 
squares, its section of mud-colored houses and terraced 
roofs, lies in the form of a crescent at the visitor's feet ; 
while the plains of Lower Egypt stretch far away in all 
directions. The tombs of the Mamelukes (a body of 
mounted soldiery of Egypt massacred by Mehemet Ali) 
lie close at hand, full of historic suggestiveness, and just 
beyond stands the lonely column of Heliopolis, four thou- 
sand years old, marking the site of the famous " City of 
the Sun." Towards the sea is the land of Goshen, where 
the sons of Jacob fed their flocks. A little more westerly, 
in the mysterious Nile, is seen the well-wooded island of 
Roda, quietly nestling in the broad bosom of the river. 
Here is the place where the infant Moses was found. The 
grand Aqueduct, with its high-reaching arches, reminds us 
of the ruins outside of Rome ; while ten miles away are 
seen the time-defying Pyramids, the horizon ending at the 
borders of the great Libyan Desert. Far away to the 
southwest a forest of palms dimly marks the site of dead 
and buried Memphis, where Joseph interpreted a monarch's 
dream. It is the twilight hour as we stand in the open 
area of the mosque, and view the scene. The half-sup- 
pressed hum of a dense Eastern population comes up to us 
from the busy, low-lying city, and a strange, sensuous 
flavor of sandal wood, musk, and attar of roses floats on the 
golden haze of the sunset, indelibly fixing the scene upon 
the memory. 

The Pyramids of Gizeh are situated about three leagues 




Page 132. 



A LADY OF CAIRO AS SEEN IN PUBLIC. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 133 

from Cairo, and, after crossing the Nile by an iron bridge, 
guarded at eitlier end by two bronze lions, they are reached 
by a straight, level road, lined with well-trimmed trees. 
This road terminates at a rocky plateau, which serves to 
give these wonderful structures an elevated site, as well as 
to form a firm, natural foundation for the enormous weight 
of solid stone to be supported. There is always an im- 
portuning group of Arabs here, who live upon the gratuities 
obtained from visitors. They help people to ascend and 
descend the Pyramids for a fixed sum, or, for a few shillings, 
will run up and down them like monkeys. On the way be- 
tween Cairo and the Pyramids, through the long alley of 
acacias, we pass hundreds of camels bound to the city, 
laden with green fodder and newly cut clover for stable use 
in town. Carts are not employed ; the backs of camels and 
donkeys supersede the use of wheels. 

Nothing new can be said about the Pyramids, — monu- 
ments hoary with age ; the statistics relating to them are 
familiar. They simply show, standing there upon the 
border of the desert, a vast aggregate of labor performed 
by compulsion, and only exhibit the supreme folly of the 
monarchs, who thus vainly strove to erect monuments 
which should defy all time and perpetuate their fame. To- 
day not even the names of their founders are surely known. 
There are plausible suppositions enough about them, each 
writer upon the subject having plenty of arguments to sup- 
port his special convictions ; but their history rests, after 
all is said, amid a confusion of very thm speculation. There 
is little genius evinced in the design or execution of the 
Pyramids. Neither art, taste, nor religion is in any way 
subserved by these unequalled follies. There is no archi- 
tectural excellence in them, thouoh great skill is evinced 



134 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

in their construction, they are merely enormous piles of 
stone. Some pronounce them marvellous as evidences of 
ancient greatness and power. True ; but if it were desir- 
able, we could build loftier and larger ones in our day. As 
they are doubtless over four thousand years old, we admit 
that they are venerable, and that they are entitled to a 
certain degree of consideration on that account. In the 
religious instinct which led the Buddhists to build, at such 
enormous expense of time and money, the cave-temples of 
Elephanta, Ellora, and Carlee ; in the idolatrous Hindoo 
temples of Madura and Tanjore, the shrines of Ceylon, the 
pagodas of China, and the temples of Japan, one detects 
an underlying and elevating sentiment, a grand and rever- 
ential idea, in which there may be more of acceptable 
veneration than we can fully appreciate ; but in the Pyra- 
mids we have no expression of devotion, only an embodi- 
ment of personal vanity, which hesitated at nothing for its 
gratification, and which proved a total failure. 

The immensity of the desert landscape, and the absence 
of any object for comparison, make these three pyramids 
seem smaller than they really are ; but the actual height 
of the largest, that of Cheops, is nearly five hundred feet. 
The theory that they are royal tombs is generally accepted. 
Bunsen claims for Egypt nearly seven thousand years of 
civilization and prosperity before the building of these 
monuments. We do not often pause to realize how little 
of reliable history there is extant. Conjecture is not his- 
tory. If contemporary record so often belies itself, what 
ought we to consider veracious of that which comes to us 
through the shadowy distance of thousands of years .'* Not 
many hundred feet from the nearest pyramid, and on a 
somewhat lower plane, stands that colossal mystery, the 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. I35 

Sphinx. The Arabs call it " The Father of Terror," and 
it certainly has a weird and unworldly look. Its body and 
most of the head is hewn out of the soHd rock where it 
stands, the upper portion forming the head and bust of a 
human being, to which is added the body with the paws of 
an animal. The great size of the figure will be realized when 
we mention the fact that the face alone is thirty feet long 
and half as wide. The body is in a sitting posture, with 
the paws extended forward some fifty feet or more. This 
strange figure is believed to be of much greater antiquity 
than the Pyramids, but no one can say how old it really is. 
Notwithstanding its mutilated condition, showing the fur- 
rows of time, the features have still a sad, tranquil expres- 
sion, telling of the original dignity of the design. 

From Cairo we take the railway to Ismailia, the little 
town situated midway on the Suez Canal, between the two 
seas, at the Bitter Lakes, through which the course of the 
canal runs. It is a pretty and attractive place, containing 
four or five thousand inhabitants, and is a creation of the 
last few years. Here we observe gardens filled with choice 
flowers and fruit-trees, vegetation being in its most verdant 
dress, promoted by irrigation from the neighboring fresh- 
water canal. The place has broad, neat streets, and a 
capacious central square, ornamented with large and thrifty 
trees. It was here that the representatives of all nations 
met on the occasion of the inaugurating ceremony on the 
completion of De Lesseps's canal. We take a small mail 
steamer at Ismailia, through the western half of the canal 
to Port Said, the Mediterranean terminus of the great 
artificial river. It is a fact worthy of remembrance that, 
with all our modern improvements and progressive ideas, 
the Egyptians were centuries before us in this plan of 



136 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

shortening the path of commerce between the East and 
the West ; or, in other words, of connecting the Red Sea 
with that of the Mediterranean across the Isthmus and 
through the Gulf of Suez. The purpose was probably 
never thoroughly carried out until De Lesseps's consumma- 
tion of it as it now exists. 

Port Said, like Suez, derives its only interest and im- 
portance from the canal. It contains some seven thousand 
inhabitants, with a floating population of two thousand. 
The region round about it is perfectly barren, like Egypt 
nearly everywhere away from the valley of the Nile. 
Through that part of the desert which we pass in coming 
from Suez, one looks in vain for any continuous sigh of 
vegetation. The entire absence of trees and forests 
accounts for the lack also of wild beasts, excepting the 
hyena and jackal, which are occasionally met with. Here 
and there, at long intervals, an oasis of green is seen, like 
a smile breaking over the arid face of nature. Once or 
twice we see a cluster of palms beside a rude well, hedged 
in by a little patch of green earth, about which a few 
camels or goats are quenching their thirst or cropping the 
scanty herbage. Some Arabs, in picturesque costumes, 
linger hard by. The tents pitched in the background are 
of the same low, flat-topped, camel's-hair construction as 
have been used by these desert tribes for many thousands 
of years. 

Egypt has only her ruins, her antiquity, her Bible asso- 
ciations to give her interest with the world at large. Japan 
is infinitely to be preferred ; China even rivals her in natu- 
ral advantages ; and India is much more inviting. In look- 
ing at Egypt we must forget her present and recall her 
past. The real Egypt is not the vast territory which we 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 137 

find laid down by geographers, reaching to the Indian 
Ocean, the Red Sea, and embracing equatorial regions ; 
it is and was, even in the days of the Pharaohs and Ptole- 
mies, the valley of the Nile, from the First Cataract to 
the Mediterranean Sea, hemmed in by the Libyan and 
Arabian deserts, whence there came to the rest of the 
world so much of art, science, and philosophy. The fellah 
or peasant, he who tills the soil, is of a fine and industrious 
race, well built, broad chested, and lithe of frame. He is 
the same figure that his ancestors were of old, as repre- 
sented on the tombs and temples of Thebes, and on the 
slabs one sees from Gizeh, in the museum of Cairo. He 
still performs his work in the nineteenth century just as 
he did before the days of Moses, scattering the seed and 
irrigating by hand. He is little seen in the cities, — his 
place is in the field, where he lives and thrives. Though 
his native land has found such various masters in Greek 
and Roman, Arab and Turk, he has never lost his individ- 
uality ; he has ever been, and is to-day, the same historic 
Egyptian. 

The next point to which our course will take us is the 
Island of Malta, which involves a sail of a thousand miles 
from Port Said. The city of Valetta is the capital, having 
a population of a hundred and fifty thousand. The island 
is an English outpost, similar to Gibraltar, and, in a mili- 
tary point of view, is about as important. It is twenty 
miles long and sixteen wide, and has held a conspicuous 
place in historical records for nearly three thousand years. 
The houses of the city are mostly large stone structures, 
and many have notable architectural merit, fronting thor- 
oughfares of good width, well paved, and lighted with gas. 
An aspect of cleanliness and freshness pervades every- 



138 FOOT-PJi'lNTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

thing. Many of the streets run up the steep hillside on 
which the town stands, and are flanked by broad stone 
steps for foot-passengers, the roadway of such streets 
being quite inaccessible for vehicles. The principal thor- 
oughfare is the Strada Reale, nearly a mile long, lined with 
attractive stores and dwelling-houses, forming a busy and 
pleasant boulevard. The houses over the stores are orna- 
mented by convenient iron balconies, where the citizens 
can sit and enjoy the cool evening breezes after the hot 
days that linger about Malta nearly all the year round. 

At the upper end of the Strada Reale we observe a large 
and imposing stone opera-house, presenting a fine archi- 
tectural aspect, being ornamented with lofty Corinthian 
columns, a side portico and broad stone steps leading up 
to the vestibule. A visit to the Church of St. John will 
afford much enjoyment. It was built a little over three 
hundred years since by the Knights of the Order of St. 
John, who lavished fabulous sums of money upon its erec- 
tion and its elaborate ornamentation. Statuary and paint- 
ings of rare merit abound within its walls, and gold and 
silver ornaments render the work of great aggregate value. 
The entire roof of the church, which is divided into zones, 
is admirably painted in figures of such proportions as to 
look life-size from the floor, representing prominent Scrip- 
tural scenes. In this church the Knights seem to have vied 
with each other in adding to its ornaments and its treas- 
ures, so that the rich marbles, bas-reliefs, and mosaics are 
almost confusing in their abundance. The floor is formed 
of inlaid marble slabs, which cover the last resting-places 
of the most distinguished Knights of the famous Order of 
St. John. 

Snow is not known in Malta, but ice sometimes forms 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 139 

during the coldest nights of winter, though only in very 
thin layers, the climate being much like that of Southern 
Italy. Fruit and ornamental trees abound, and flowers at- 
tract the eye in nearly every domestic window. There must 
be a prevailing refinement of taste in this island city, other- 
wise the abundance of flowers offered for sale in the Strada 
Reale would not find purchasers. There is a section near 
the harbor named Casal Attand ; that is, the " Village of 
Roses." Casal in Maltese signifies village. There is also 
Casal Luca, the "Village of Poplars," and still another, 
Casal Zebbug, the "Village of Olives," a natural and ap- 
propriate system of nomenclature. It is extremely inter- 
esting to visit the armory of the Knights of St. John, to 
see the rusty lances, dimmed sword-blades, and tattered 
battle -flags which were borne by the Crusaders in the days 
of Saladin and Coeur de Lion. A visit to Fort St. An- 
gelo, perched upon the summit of the island, enables us 
to look far away over the blue Mediterranean, dotted by 
the picturesque maritime rig of these waters. It is pleas- 
ant to stroll about the bright, cleanly streets of Valetta, 
to chat with the smiling flower-girls who occupy the little 
kiosks (flower-stands) on the corners of the Strada Reale, 
and to enjoy a cooling ice in the gardens of the cafe adjoin- 
ing the Knights' Palace. But we must not linger here, 
whence we sail for Gibraltar, a thousand miles away, at the 
other end of this great inland sea. 

Arrived at the famous Rock, we are at once impressed 
upon landing with its military importance. Every other 
person one meets is in uniform, and cannon are as plenty 
as at Woolwich or West Point. The Signal Station is 
fifteen hundred feet in height. The zigzag path leading 
to the summit is lined with wild-flowers, though we come 



140 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

now and again upon embrasures, whence protrude grim- 
muzzled guns. Further up we stoop to gather some daph- 
nes and disclose a battery screened by fragrant and bloom- 
ing flowers. From the top the view is magnificent ; the 
white wings of commerce which sprinkle the sea look like 
sea-gulls, and steamships are only discernible by the long 
line of smoke trailing behind them. Far below us, on the 
Spanish side, lies the town, a thick mass of yellow, white, 
and brown houses ; and nestling in the bay is the shipping, 
looking like toy-boats. The mountain ranges of Ceuta 
and Andalusia, on opposite continents, mingle with soft, 
over-shadowing clouds, while over our heads is a glorious 
dome of turquoise blue, such as no temple raised by the 
hand of man can imitate. 

We find that England has thus established and maintains 
a line of outposts from the Mediterranean to the far East, 
beginning at Gibraltar, thence to Malta, Aden, Ceylon, Pe- 
nang, Singapore, and Hong Kong, completely dominating 
the South of Asia, and giving: her a clear route to her 
extensive possessions in India. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 141 



CHAPTER X. 

WE embark at Gibraltar for Tangier in a small coast- 
ing steamer, crossing the straits which separate 
Europe from Africa, a distance of less than a hundred 
miles. As we draw away from the Spanish shore, the long 
range of Andalusian mountains stands out compact and 
clear, the snow-white summits sparkling in the sunshine. 
On the lowlands, sloping to the water's edge, the fields 
are robed in a soft green attire, dotted with herds of 
goats and cattle. Old stone watch-towers line the shore at 
regular intervals, and coast-guard houses sheltering squads 
of soldiers, for this region is famous as the resort of 
smugglers and lawless bands of rovers. On the opposite 
coast of Africa, the Ceuta range grows every moment 
more distinct, the loftiest peaks mantled with snow, like 
the bleached, flowing drapery of the Bedouins. Still fur- 
ther on, dazzling white hamlets enliven the Morocco shore, 
with deep green, tropical verdure in the background. Ceuta 
attracts our interest, being a Spanish penal colony, which 
is surrounded by jealous, warlike Moors, slave-traders, and 
smugglers. 

Tangier stands on the western shore of a shallow bay, 
upon a sloping hillside, but it is not at all impressive as one 
approaches it. The windowless houses rise like cubical 
blocks of masonry one above another, dominated by a few 
square towers which crown the several mosques ; while 
here and there a consular flag floats lazily upon the air 



142 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

from a lofty pole. The rude, irregular wall which sur- 
rounds the city is seen stretching about it, pierced with 
arched Moorish gates. 

Oriental as Cairo is, Tangier strikes us as even more so. 
In coming from Gibraltar, one seems, by a single step as 
it were, to have passed from civilization to barbarism. There 
is no European quarter here. Every evidence of the prox- 
imity of the opposite continent disappears : the distance 
might be immeasurable. The city has narrow, dirty, twisted 
streets, through which no vehicle can pass, and which are 
scarcely accessible for donkeys, camels, and foot-passengers. 
There is not a straight or level street in all Tangier. Veiled 
women, clad in white, move about the lanes like uneasy spir- 
its ; men in scarlet turbans and striped robes lounge care- 
lessly about, with their bare heels sticking out of yellow 
slippers. Now we meet a tawny Arab, a straggling son of 
the desert, his striped abba or white bournous (robe-like 
garments) hanging in graceful folds about his tall, straight 
figure ; and now a Nubian, with only a waistcloth about his 
body. The scene is constantly changing. There are Jews, 
with dark blue vests and red sashes ; Jewesses, in bright 
purple silks, and with uncovered, handsome faces. Here 
and there is seen a Maltese or Portuguese sailor hiding 
from punishment for some crime committed on the oppo- 
site continent. The variety of races one meets in these 
contracted passage-ways is indeed curious, represented by 
faces yellow, bronze, white, and black. Add to all, the 
crowd of donkey-boys, camels, goats, and street pedlers, 
crying, bleating, blustering, and braying, and we get an 
idea of the sights and sounds that constantly greet one 
in this Moorish capital. 

The slave market is situated just outside of the city 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 43 

walls, where the sales take place on the Sabbath, which 
is regarded as a sort of holiday. The average price of the 
women and girls is from fifty to sixty dollars, according to 
age and good looks ; the men vary much in price, accord- 
ing to the demand for labor. About the large open space 
of the market is a group of Bedouins, just arrived from the 
interior with dried fruits, dates, and the like. Camels and 
men, weary after the long tramp, are reclining upon the 
ground, forming a picture only to be seen on the border 
of the desert, and beneath the glow and shimmer of an 
African sun. 

We ascend the heights, which form a background to the 
city. The sloping hillside is mostly occupied by a few 
European merchants and the consuls of the several na- 
tions. Their villas are very picturesque, half buried in 
foliage, and located in an atmosphere redolent with fruits 
and flowers. From the fronts of their dwellings the view 
is superb : the broad piazzas are hung here and there with 
hammocks, telling of luxurious out-door life ; family groups 
are seen taking their morning coffee on the verandas, and 
the voices of many children ring out, clear and bird-like, 
floating up to the eyrie where we are perched ; down 
towards the shore lies brown, dingy, dirty Tangier, with its 
mud-colored groups of tiled roofs, its teeming population, 
its mouldy old walls, its Moorish arched gates, and its min- 
arets, square and dominant. On our way back we again 
pass through the slave market, where a bevy of dancing- 
girls with tambourines and castanets look wistfully at us, 
hoping for an audience. 

Nearly the last sound that greets our ears, as we walk 
over the irregular pavements and through the narrow lanes 
toward the pier whence we are to embark, is the rude music 



144 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

of the snake-charmer ; and the last sight is that of a pubhc 
story-teller in one of the little squares, earnestly gesticu- 
lating before a score of eager listeners while he recites a 
chapter from the "Thousand and One Nights." 

The sultan of Morocco is supreme, and holds the lives 
and fortunes of his subjects at his will. He is judge and 
executioner of the laws, which emanate from himself. Taxa- 
tion is so heavy as to amount to prohibition, in many depart- 
ments of enterprise ; exportation is hampered, agriculture 
so heavily loaded with taxes that it is only pursued so far 
as to supply the bare necessities of life ; manufacture is 
just where it was centuries ago, and is performed with the 
same primitive tools ; the printing-press is unknown ; there 
are no books, save the Koran ; and the language is such a 
mixture of tongues, and is so corrupted, as to hardly have 
a distinctive existence. The people obey the local sheikhs 
(pronounced shdk) ; above them are the cadis, who control 
provinces ; and still higher, are the pashas, who are account- 
able only to the sultan. 

Returning to Gibraltar we take a coasting steamer along 
the shore of Spain eastward to Malaga, the city of raisins 
and sweet wine. It is commercially one of the most im- 
portant cities of the country, and was once the capital of 
an independent state. It was a large and prosperous Phoe- 
nician metropolis centuries before the time of Christ upon 
earth. The older portions of the city have all the Moor- 
ish peculiarities of construction, — narrow streets, crooked 
passages, small barred windows, and heavy doors ; but the 
modern part of Malaga is characterized by broad, straight 
thoroughfares and elegantly built houses of stone. This 
is especially the case with the Alameda, which has a cen- 
tral walk ornamented by flowers and shrubs, and which 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 145 

is bordered with handsome almond-trees. On either side of 
this broad promenade is a good roadway, flanked by houses 
of pleasing architectural effect, lofty and well relieved. 

There are several fine open squares in Malaga, some of 
which contain statues and ornamental trees, together with 
well-kept flower-beds. The discovery not long since of 
Roman antiquities in the environs has created a warm 
interest among archaeologists. The trade of the city in 
wine and dried fruits is large. Four-fifths of the forty 
thousand butts of sweet wine shipped from here are ex- 
ported to the United States. The present population is 
about a hundred and twenty-five thousand, made up of a 
community of more than average respectability, though 
beggars are found to be very annoying in the public streets. 
The old Moorish castle crowning the seaward heights has 
been converted into a modern fortress, affording a charm- 
mg view from its battlements. In the squares and streets, 
as well as in the market-place, women sit each morning 
weaving fresh-cut flowers of rose-buds, mignonette, pan- 
sies, violets, and geraniums into pretty little clusters, of 
which they sell many as button-hole bouquets. One may 
be sure there is always a refined element in the locality, 
whether otherwise visible or not, where such an apprecia- 
tion is manifested. The bull-fight may thrive, the popu- 
lace may be riotous, education at a very low ebb, and art 
almost entirely neglected ; but when a love of nature is 
evinced in the appreciation of beautiful flowers, there is 
still extant on the popular heart the half-effaced image of 
its Maker. 

It is an interesting fact that Spain, in the time of Julius 
Caesar, contained nearly eighty million inhabitants, but 
to-day it has less than eighteen million. By glancing at 



146 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the map it will be perceived that Spain is a large country, 
comprising nearly the whole of the southern peninsula of 
Europe, Portugal being confined to a very small space. It 
is about double the size of Great Britain, and is rich in 
every known mineral, though poor enough in the necessary 
energy and enterprise requisite to improve such possibili- 
ties. In many sections of the country great natural fer- 
tility is apparent, but nature has to perform the lion's share 
of the work in producing crops. In the environs of Malaga, 
and the southern provinces generally, there are orange, 
lemon, and olive groves miles in extent. The Moors had 
a poetical saying that this favored region was dropped 
from paradise, but there is more of poetry than truth in the 
legend. What is really required is good cultivation and 
skilled agricultural enterprise. These would develop a very 
different condition of affairs and give to legitimate effort 
a rich reward. The sugar-cane, the grape-vine, the fig-tree, 
and the productive olive, mingling with the myrtle and the 
laurel, gratify the eye in and about the district of Malaga ; 
but as one advances inland, the products become natural 
or wild, cultivation primitive and only partial, grain-fields 
being scarce and universal neglect the prominent feature. 

Granada is situated about seventy miles north of Malaga, 
where set the sun of Moorish glory, but where still exists 
that embodiment of romance, the Alhambra. This palace- 
fortress is the one attraction of the district. It is difficult 
to realize that the Moors possessed such architectural skill, 
and that they produced such splendid palaces centuries 
ago. It is also quite as remarkable. that Time, the great 
destroyer, should have spared for our admiration such 
minute, lace-like carvings, and such brilliant mosaics. The 
marvel of the architecture is its perfect harmony; there 




Page 147. 



A RECEPTION HALL IN THE ALHAMBRA. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 147 

are no jarring elements in this superb structure, no false 
notes in the grand anthem which it articulates. In visit- 
ing the Alhambra one must be assisted by both history 
and the imagination ; he must know something of the 
people who built and beautified it ; he must be able to 
summon back the brave warriors and beautiful ladies from 
the dim past to people again these glorious halls. He 
must call to life the orange, the myrtle, and the myriads of 
fragrant flowers that bloomed of old in these now silent 
marble courts. As we pass from one section to another, 
from hall to hall, chamber to chamber, lingering with busy 
thoughts amid the faded glory, the very atmosphere teems 
with historical reminiscences of that most romantic period, 
the mediaeval days, when the Moors held regal court in 
Andalusia. A lurking sympathy steals over us for that 
exiled people who could create and give life to such a ter- 
restrial paradise. 

Alhambra signifies "Red Castle," and the vermilion- 
tinted structure, with its outlying towers, was thus appro- 
priately named. In the days of its glory it was half palace, 
half fortress ; indeed, a city in itself, capable of accommo- 
dating quite an army, and containing within its walls an 
immense cistern as a water supply, besides armories, store- 
houses, foundry, and every appliance of a large citadel. A 
considerable portion of the far-reaching walls is still extant. 
Under good generalship, and properly manned, the place 
must have been nearly impregnable to attack with such 
arms as were in use at the period. For a long time after 
the expulsion of the Moors, the Castilian monarchs made 
it their royal residence, and revelled within its splendid 
walls ; but they finally deserted it. The place was next 
infested by a lawless community of smugglers and banditti, 



148 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

who made it their headquarters, whence to sally forth and 
lay the neighboring plains under contribution. Then came 
the French as conquerors, who expelled the lawless intru- 
ders, themselves, perhaps, quite as deserving of the title; 
but they did good work in clearing what had become an 
Augean stable of its worst filth and partially restoring the 
choicest work of the Moorish builders. To-day the Span- 
ish government guards with jealous care a monumental 
treasure which cannot be equalled in the kingdom. 

A day's journey northward brings us to Cordova, which 
was the capital of Moorish Spain ten centuries ago, when 
the city could boast a million inhabitants. Now it has 
thirty thousand. One of the most prominent objects is 
the ancient stone bridge, supported by broad, irregular 
arches. For two thousand years that old bridge has bat- 
tled with the elements ; Romans, Moors, and Spaniards 
have fiercely contended at its entrances ; the tides of victory 
and of defeat have swept again and again across its road- 
way. Leaning over its stone barriers we watch the river 
pursue its rapid course just as it has done for twenty 
centuries. Palaces, temples, shrines, may crumble, nations 
rise and fall, but the Guadalquiver still flows on. 

The one great interest of Cordova is its cathedral, 
erected sixteen centuries ago. Beautiful are its still re- 
maining hundreds of interior columns, composed of por- 
phyry, jasper, granite, alabaster, verd-antique, and marble of 
various colors. Each of the columns upholds a small 
pilaster, and between them is a horseshoe arch, no two of 
the columns being alike. They came from Greece, Rome, 
Constantinople, Damascus, and the Temple of Jerusalem. 
All the then known world was put under contribution to 
furnish the twelve hundred columns of this wonderful 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 149 

temple. The great mosque was changed into a cathedral 
after the expulsion of the Arabs, but a large portion of 
the interior is untouched and remains as it was when the 
caliphs worshipped here. Inside and out it is gloomy, 
massive, and frowning, forming one of the most remarka- 
ble links still existing in Spain between the remote past 
and the present. It appears to be nearly as large upon the 
ground as St. Peter's at Rome, and contains fifty separate 
chapels within its capacious walls. It has, in its passage 
through the several dynasties of Roman, Moorish, and 
Spanish rule, received distinctive architectural marks from 
each. Its large, cool court of orange-trees, centuries old, 
its battlemented walls and huge gateway, its famous foun- 
tains and its mingled palms and tall cypresses, all combine 
to perfect an impressive picture of the dead and buried 
thousands connected with its history. 

We still pursue a northerly course. From Cordova to 
Madrid is about three hundred miles by railway, carrying 
us through some very interesting and typical scenery. 
Occasionally a gypsy camp is passed, pitched near our 
route, presenting the usual domestic groups, mingled with 
animals, covered carts, lazy men stretched on the green- 
sward, and busy women cooking the evening meal. Long 
strings of mules, with widespread panniers, are seen wind- 
ing across the plain, sometimes in charge of a woman clad 
in gaudy colors, while her lazy husband thrums a guitar 
as he lies across one of the mules. Towards evening 
groups of peasants, male and female, with farming tools 
in their hands, are seen winding their steps towards some 
hamlet after the day's labor. Arched stone bridges, old 
and moss-grown, come into view, spanning small water- 
courses on their way from the mountains to join more 



150 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL;. OR, 

pretentious streams. Elevated spots show us the ruins of 
old stone towers, once a part of some feudal stronghold, 
but the eye seeks in vain for well-wooded slopes, thrifty 
groves, or cultivated fields with promising crops. While 
the more practical traveller realizes a sense of disappoint- 
ment at the paucity of thrift and vegetation, the poet and 
the artist will find enough to delight the eye and to fire 
the imagination in Spain. The ever-transparent atmos- 
phere, and the lovely cloud-effects that prevail, are accom- 
paniments which will hallow the desolate regions for the 
artist at all seasons. The poet has only to wander among 
the former haunts of the Moors and view the crumbling 
monuments of their gorgeous, luxurious, and artistic taste, 
to be equally absorbed and inspired. 

When we arrive at Madrid, the first query which sug- 
gests itself is, why Charles V. should have made his 
capital on this spot. True, it is in about the geographical 
centre of Spain, but it is hemmed in on all sides by arid 
plains, and has an adjacent river, so-called, but which in 
America would be known as a dry gulch. It is difficult 
to see what possible benefit can be derived from a water- 
less river. Like the Arno at Florence, it seems troubled 
with a chronic thirst. In short, the Manzanares has the 
form of a river without the circulation. In the days of 
Charles II. its dry bed was turned into a sort of race- 
course and drive-way, but since the completion of the 
magnificent Prado it has been abandoned even for this 
purpose. Eight or nine hundred years ago Madrid was a 
fortified outpost of Toledo — " imperial " Toledo. Though 
it is situated between two and three thousand feet above 
sea-level, it does not seem to possess the advantages 
usually following such position, the climate being scorch- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 151 

ingly hot in summer and piercingly cold in winter. So 
that one comes to the conclusion that in point of climate, 
as well as in location, the Spanish capital is a mistake. 

Having been established when the furor for cathedral- 
building had passed, the city has none within its borders, 
though there is no lack of modern churches. Notwith- 
standing these criticisms, Madrid is a large and fine city, 
with some four hundred thousand inhabitants ; not notice- 
able, like Genoa, Rome, or Florence, for palaces and 
ancient monuments, but it is well laid out, the streets 
broad and nicely paved, while numerous open squares 
ornament the several sections. Some of these are fihed 
with attractive shrubbery and ornamental trees, as well as 
statuary. Among the latter are representations of Murillo, 
Philip III., Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Philip V., Calderon, 
and others. The finest statue in the city is that of 
Philip IV., representing that monarch on horseback, the 
animal in a prancing position. This is a wonderfully life- 
like bronze, designed by Velasquez. It forms the centre 
of the Plaza del Oriente, or square in front of the royal 
palace, from which it is separated, however, by a broad 
thoroughfare. According to history, Galileo showed the 
artist how the horse could be sustained in its remarkable 
position, the whole weight of the rider and the animal 
resting on the hind legs. 

On the Prado, the grand public drive of the citizens, 
there are fine marble statues, and groups combined with 
very elegant fountains. The Puerto del Sol, that is, the 
"Gate of the Sun," is situated in the heart of the city, 
and is always full of busy life. A dozen large streets and 
boulevards radiate from this area, where the lines of street- 
cars also meet and diverge. The fashionable idlers of the 



152 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

town hold high carnival in the Puerto del Sol, day and 
night. One is half dazed by the whirl of carriages, the rush 
of pedestrians, the passing of military bands with marching 
regiments, and the clatter of horses' feet caused by dash- 
ing equestrians. This plaza or square is a scene of inces- 
sant movement from early morn until midnight. Like Paris 
and Vienna, Madrid does not seem to thoroughly awaken 
until evening, the tide of life becoming most active under 
the glare of gas-light. The Prado, just referred to, is to 
Madrid what the Champs Elysees and the Bois de Boulogne 
are to Paris, a splendid avenue, through the centre of 
which runs a walk and garden similar to the Unter den 
Linden of Berlin, or Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, save 
that it is more extensive than either of these last named. 
The Prado nearly joins the Public Garden of Madrid, on 
the borders of the city proper, in which there are also fine 
carriage-drives, roadways for equestrians, many delightful 
shaded walks, and paths lined with choice flowers. On 
Sundays and holidays these grounds are thronged with 
citizens and their families for out-of-door enjoyment ; sev- 
eral military bands distributed about the grounds add to the 
attraction. 

The royal palace is located upon a slightly elevated site, 
and is so isolated as to give full effect to its appearance. 
It is the only building of a remarkable character, archi- 
tecturally speaking, in the city ; being the largest, and one 
of the finest, royal palaces in Europe. It belongs to the 
Tuscan style, and cost between five and six million dollars 
a hundred years ago. The base is of granite ; but the 
upper portion is built of a fine white stone, very closely 
resembling marble. 

In its splendid art collection of the Museo, the city has 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 153 

a treasure only equalled by the Louvre at Paris and the 
galleries of Florence. To artists it is the one attraction of 
Madrid, and is principally composed of works by Spanish 
masters, though also containing many other fine works of 
art. Here we may see forty examples by the hand of 
Murillo, sixty-four from Velasquez, sixty by Rubens, twenty- 
five from Paul Veronese, thirty-four by Tintoretto, and many 
by Andrea del Sarto, Titian, Vandyke, and others of similar 
artistic fame. It is believed that Murillo appears at his best 
in this collection. Being a native of Seville, he is seen, as 
it were, at home ; and artists declare that his works here 
show more power and expression than anywhere else. So 
we go to Antwerp to appreciate Rubens, though we find 
him so fully represented elsewhere. The same may be said 
of Velasquez as of Murillo ; he also was at home here, and 
cannot be fairly, or rather fully, judged outside of the 
Madrid gallery. 

When the French were masters in Spain, they proved to 
be terrible agents of destruction ; leaving marks of their 
devastation everywhere. Not content with stealing many 
unequalled works of art, they often wantonly destroyed 
what they could not conveniently take away with them. 
In the tomb of Ferdinand and Isabella, at Grenada, they 
pried open the royal coffins, in search of treasure ; at 
Seville they broke open the coffin of Murillo, and scat- 
tered his ashes to the wind ; Marshal Soult treated the 
ashes of Cervantes in a similar manner. War desecrates 
all things, human and divine, but sometimes becomes a 
Nemesis (goddess of retribution), dispensing poetical jus- 
tice ; as when Waterloo caused the return to Spain of a 
portion of her despoiled art-treasures. 

The bull-ring of the capital will seat eighteen thousand 



154 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

spectators. Here, on each Sunday of the season, exhibi- 
tions are given to enthusiastic crowds, the entertainments 
always being honored by the presence of the state digni- 
taries, and members of the royal family. The worst result 
of such cruelty is that it infects the beholders with a like 
spirit. We all know how cruel the English became during 
the reign of Henry the Eighth. Sunday is always a gala- 
day in Madrid, though the attendance upon early mass is 
very general, at least among the women. It is here, as at 
Paris and other European capitals, the chosen day for mili- 
tary parades, horse races, and the bull fight. Most of the 
shops are open, and do a profitable business ; especially is 
this the case with the liquor and cigar stores and the cafes. 
The lottery-ticket vendor makes double the usual day's sales 
on this occasion, and the itinerant gamblers, with their little 
tables, have crowds about them wherever they locate. The 
gayly dressed flower-girls, with dainty little baskets rich in 
color and captivating in fragrance, press button-hole bou- 
quets on the pedestrians, while men perambulate the streets 
with cakes and candies displayed in open wooden boxes 
hung about their necks. In short, Sunday is made a holi- 
day, when grandees and beggars come forth like marching 
regiments into the Puerto del Sol. The Prado and public 
gardens are crowded with gayly dressed people, children, 
and nurses, the costumes of the latter being of the most 
theatrical character. No one who can walk stays within 
doors on Sunday at Madrid. 

The cars will take us forty miles hence to Toledo, where 
the rule of the Moor is seen in foot-prints which time has 
not yet obliterated. It seems like realizing a mediaeval 
dream to walk the narrow, sombre streets of this famous 
old capital. Strangely steep, winding, and irregular, they 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 55 

are ! The reason for constructing them thus was doubtless 
that they might be the more easily defended when attacked 
by an enemy. In the days of her prime, Toledo saw many 
battles, both inside and outside of her gates. One can" 
touch the houses of these streets, in many instances, on 
both sides at the same time by extending the arms. There 
are scores of deserted buildings, securely locked up, the 
heavy gates studded with great iron nails, while the lower 
windows are closely iron-grated. Some of them are open 
and unguarded, having paved entrances or court-yards, with 
galleries around them, upon which the rooms open. Every- 
thing bespeaks their Moorish origin. Some of these houses, 
which were palaces once, are now used as storehouses, some 
as carpenter-shops, some occupied as manufactories, while 
the appearance of all shows them to have been designed for 
a very different use. 

The whole valley which Toledo overlooks, now lying so 
dead and silent, once teemed with a dense population, and 
sent forth armies, and fought great battles, in the days of 
the Goths. The cathedral of this old city is visited by 
architects from all parts of Europe and America, solely for 
the purpose of professional study, it being one of the finest 
examples of the Gothic order in existence, while the rich- 
ness of its ornamentation and its artistic wealth, not to men- 
tion in detail its gold and silver plate, make it the rival of 
most cathedrals in the world, with the possible exception 
of that at Burgos. Its size is vast, with a tower reaching 
three hundred feet heavenward, the interior having five 
great aisles, divided by over eighty aspiring columns. It 
is said to contain more stained-glass windows than any 
other cathedral that was ever built. The high altar, a 
marvel of splendid workmanship and minute detail, is yet 



156 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

a little confusing from the myriads of single statues, groups, 
columns, and ornaments generally. 

Toledo stands upon the boldest promontory of the Tagus, 
a dead and virtually deserted city. Coveted by various con- 
querors, she has been besieged more than twenty times ; 
so that the river beneath her walls has often flowed red 
with human gore where it is spanned by the graceful bridge 
of Alcantara. Phoenicians, Romans, Goths, Moors, and 
Christians have all fought for, and at different times have 
possessed the place. Only the skeleton of a once great 
and thriving capital remains. It has no commerce, and 
but one industry, the manufacture of arms and sword- 
blades, which gives occupation to a couple of hundred 
souls — hardly more. The coming and going of visitors 
from other lands gives it a little flutter of daily life, — 
like a fitful candle, blazing up for a moment, and then 
dying down in the socket, making darkness only the more 
intense by the contrast. The one sword factory is found 
to be of little interest, though we are told that better 
blades are manufactured here to-day than of old. 

In looking at the present condition of this once famous 
seat of industry and power, recalling her arts, manufac- 
tures, and commerce, it must be remembered that outside 
of the immediate walls, which formed the citadel of a large 
and extended population, were over forty thriving towns 
and villages in the valley of the Tagus, under the shadow 
of her wing. These communities and their homes have 
all disappeared, pastures and fields of grain covering their 
dust from the eyes of the curious traveller. The narrow, 
silent, doleful streets of the old city, with its overhanging 
roofs and yawning arches, leave a sad memory on the brain 
as we turn thoughtfully away from its crumbling walls and 
picturesque, antique Moorish gates. 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 157 

Thirty-five miles from Madrid by rail will bring us to the 
Escurial, which the Spaniards call the eighth wonder of the 
world. This vast pile of stone buildings is more than three 
hundred years in age, and nearly a mile in circumference, 
— tomb, palace, cathedral, monastery, all in one. It was 
the royal home of that bigoted monarch Philip II., but 
is now only a show place, so to speak, of no present use 
except as an historical link and a royal tomb. One hall, 
over two hundred feet long and sixty wide, contains nearly 
seventy thousand bound volumes, all arranged with their 
backs to the wall so that the titles cannot be read, a plan 
which one would say was the device of some madman. The 
shelves, divided into sections and ornamental cases, are made 
of ebony, cedar, orange, and other choice woods. What pos- 
sible historic wealth may here lie concealed, what noble 
thoughts and minds embalmed ! In the domestic or dwell- 
ing portion of the Escurial, the apartments are very finely 
inlaid with various woods, besides Containing some delicate 
and antique furniture of great beauty. A few cabinet pic- 
tures are seen upon the walls, and one or two large apart- 
ments are hung with tapestry, which, though centuries old, 
is as fresh as when it was first made. It might have come 
from the manufactory during this present year ; for it cer- 
tainly could not look brighter or more perfect. 

The grounds surrounding the structure are laid out in 
pleasant gardens, where fountains, flowers, and a few infe- 
rior marble statues serve for external finish. On the out- 
side, high up above the broadest portion of the dome, was 
placed the famous plate of gold, an inch thick and contain- 
ing some ten square feet of surface, forming a monument of 
the bravado and extravagance of Philip II., who put it there 
in reply to the assertion of his enemies that he had finan- 



158 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

cially ruined himself in building so costly a palace as the 
Escurial. 

Burgos is situated about two hundred miles north of 
Madrid, and is reached by railway. Here the first impres- 
sion upon the stranger is that of quaintness. It is a damp, 
cold, dead-and-alive place, with but three monuments 
worthy of our attention. These are its unrivalled cathe- 
dral, its Carthusian monastery, and its convent of Huelgas ; 
and yet there is a tinge of the romantic Castilian period 
about its musty old streets and archways scarcely equalled 
elsewhere in Spain, and which one would not like to miss. 
It is very amusing, on arriving in such a place, to start 
off in the early morning without any fixed purpose as to 
destination, and wander through unknown streets, lanes, 
and archways, coming out upon a broad square, — the 
Plaza Mayor, for instance, which contains a bronze statue 
of Charles III. ; thence to another with a tall stone foun- 
tain in its centre, where a motley group of women and 
young girls are filling their jars with water; and again, 
through a dull dark lane, coming upon the lofty gate of 
Santa Maria, erected by Charles V., and ornamented with 
statues of the Cid (a noted knight and warrior), Fernando 
Gonzales (famous Spanish general), and the emperor. 
Strolling on, we presently come to another open square, 
full of busy groups of women and donkeys, gathered about 
piles of produce. It is the vegetable market, always a 
favorite morning resort in every new locality. How ani- 
mated are the eager sellers and buyers ! What a study is 
afforded by their bright, expressive faces ; how gay the 
varied colors of dress and of vegetables ; how ringing the 
Babel of tongues and the braying of donkeys ! 

The cathedral, which the Emperor Charles V. said ought 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 159 

to be placed under glass, renders the town a famous resort 
of travellers, being one of the largest, finest, and most 
richly endowed of all the Spanish churches. This lofty- 
structure, like that at Antwerp, is situated behind a cluster 
of inferior buildings, so as greatly to detract from its 
external effect, though from the opposite side of the river 
Arlanzon a favorable view is obtained of its open-work 
spires and its tall corrugated roof. The columns and high 
arches of the interior are a maze of architectural beauty 
in pure Gothic. In all these Spanish churches the choir 
completely blocks up the centre of the interior, so that no 
comprehensive view can be had. Above the space between 
the altar and the choir rises a cupola, which, in elaborate 
ornamentation of bas-reliefs, statues, small columns, arches, 
and sculptured figures, exceeds anything of the sort in this 
country so famous for its cathedrals. The hundred and 
more carved seats of the choir are in choice walnut, and 
form a great curiosity as an example of artistic wood- 
carving, presenting human figures, vines, fantastic animals, 
and foliage. The several chapels are as large as ordinary 
churches, while in the centre of each lies buried a bishop 
or a prince. The great number of statues and paintings 
scattered through the interior of the cathedral are almost 
as confusing as the pinnacled and statue-covered roof of 
the Milan cathedral, whose beauty disappears amid accum- 
ulation. In a side apartment the attendant will show us 
many curious relics, among them the well-known effigy of 
Christ on the Cross, which devout believers say was carved 
by Nicodemus just after he had buried the Saviour. 

Our course is still northward. From Burgos to San 
Sebastian by rail is a hundred and fifty miles. As we 
leave the ancient town, memory is busy for a moment 



l6o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

recalling its legends and history. We remember that cen- 
turies ago a knight of Castile, Diego Porcelos, had a lovely 
daughter named Sulla Bella, whom he gave as a bride to a 
German cavalier, and together they founded this place and 
fortified it. They called it Burg, a fortified place, hence 
Burgos. We recall the Cid and his gallant war-horse, 
Baveica, we think of the richly endowed cathedral, and 
the old monastery, where rest Juan II. and Isabella of 
Portugal in their elaborately carved alabaster tomb. But 
gradually these memories fade away as we awaken to new 
and present surroundings while rushing along at railway 
speed. Sparkling watercourses, with here and there a 
fall, give power to some rickety old stone mill and add 
variety to the scene. On the not far-off hills are castles, 
border fortresses in ruins, whose gray towers have borne 
witness to the conflicts of armor-clad warriors in the days 
of Castilian knighthood and glory. What interest hangs 
about these rude battlements ! In looking back upon the 
ancient days it is fortunate that the mellowing influence of 
time dims the vision, and we see as through a softening 
twilight ; otherwise we should behold such harshness as 
would embitter all. The olden time, like the landscape, 
appears best in the purple distance. 

The general aspect of the country since we left Malaga 
in the south has been rather disappointing, and the rural 
appearance on this beautiful trip from Burgos to San Se- 
bastian is therefore the more heartily appreciated. It 
should be called the garden of Spain, the well-watered 
valleys and plains being spread with a carpet of exquisite 
verdure. In the far distance one detects snow-clad moun- 
tains, which in fact are not out of sight during the entire 
journey. Thousands of acres are covered by the vine 



yoURNEVINGS IN MANY LANDS. l6l 

from the product of which comes our sherry wine. It is 
impossible not to feel a sense of elation amid the delight- 
ful scenery and while breathing the genial air. Nature 
seems to be in her merriest mood, clothing everything in 
poetic attire, rendering more than beautiful the gray ham- 
lets on the hillsides, over which rise square bell-towers, 
about which the red-tiled cottages cluster. Outside of 
these are seen family groups, some sewing, some spinning, 
while children gleefully tumble about and play in the invit- 
ing grass. 

San Sebastian is a somewhat famous watering-place, 
situated on the boisterous Bay of Biscay, and drawing its 
patronage largely from Madrid, though of late many Eng- 
lish people have resorted thither. It is a small city, but 
the thriftiest and most business-like, when its size is con- 
sidered, to be found in the borders of Spain. The place 
was entirely destroyed by fire when captured from the 
French by the English, a piece of sanguinary work which 
cost the latter five thousand lives ! It was on this occasion 
that Wellington is reported to have said, " The next most 
dreadful thing to a battle lost is a battle won." 

After leaving San Sebastian our first stopping-place is 
Bayonne ; that is, "Good Port." It is a city of some 
thirty thousand inhabitants, situated at the junction of 
the Adour and Nive rivers, in the Lower Pyrenees. Here 
again the cathedral forms the principal attraction to 
travellers. Though very plain and with little architectural 
merit, still it is very old, gray and crumbling, plainly 
telling the story of its age. The city has considerable 
commerce by the river, both in steam and sailing vessels, 
and exports a very respectable amount of domestic prod- 
uce. Here we see the palace where Catharine de Medici 



1 62 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and the Duke of Alva planned the terrible massacre of 
the Huguenots of France. A large, well-arranged public 
garden begins just at the city gate and extends along the 
left bank of the Adour, and there are many pleasant drives 
in the environs. 

From here we take the cars for Bordeaux, France, a 
distance of over a hundred miles, the road running mostly 
through what seems to be an interminable pine forest. 

In leaving Spain we pause for a moment to contrast her 
past and her present. In the sixteenth century she was 
the most powerful nation in the world. In art she held 
the foremost position. Murillo, Velasquez, and Ribiera 
were her honored sons ; in literature she was represented 
by Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderon ; while of dis- 
coverers and conquerors she sent forth Columbus, Cortez, 
and Pizarro. The banners of Castile and Aragon floated 
alike on the Pacific and the Indian oceans. Her warriors 
were brave and adventurous, her soldiers inherited the 
gallantry of the followers of Charles V. She was the 
court of Europe, the acknowledged leader of chivalry. 
How rapid has been her decadence ! As in the plenitude 
of her power she was ambitious, cruel, and perfidious, so 
has the measure which she meted to others been in turn 
accorded to herself, until to-day there are none so lowly as 
to do her homage. 

Bordeaux is reckoned the third city in France as to 
its commercial importance. The form of the town is that 
of a crescent extending along the shore of the Garonne, 
which here forms a broad and navigable harbor, always 
well filled with foreign and domestic shipping, though it 
is sixty miles from the sea. There are many interesting 
Roman antiquities and monuments to be seen in and about 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 163 

the city, venerable with the wear and tear of eighteen 
centuries. The pubHc buildings are commanding in their 
architectural effect, and are many of them adorned with 
sculpture. The most ancient part of the town, like nearly 
all others we visit in Europe, has narrow and crooked 
streets, but the modern portion is open, airy, and well 
arranged for business and domestic comfort. The Grand 
Theatre is a remarkable piece of effective architecture, 
with its noble Ionic columns, and was built a little more 
than a century since by Louis XVI. 

The distance from Bordeaux to Paris is about four hun- 
dred miles. The route passes all the way through a charm- 
ing and highly cultivated country. The well-prepared 
fields are green with varied crops, showing a high state of 
cultivation. Flocks of sheep, tended by shepherdesses 
with tall Norman caps of white linen and picturesque bright 
colored dresses, enliven the landscape. These industrious 
women are seen knitting as they watch their charge. 
Others are driving oxen while men hold the plow. Gangs 
of men and women together in long rows are preparing 
the ground for the seed, and all seem cheerful and happy. 
The small railroad stations recall those of India between 
Tuticorin and Madras, where the surroundings are beauti- 
fied by fragrant flower-gardens, their bland, odorous breath 
acting like a charm upon the senses amid the noise and 
bustle of arrival and departure. Now and again as we 
progress the pointed architecture of some picturesque 
chateau presents itself among the clustering trees, with 
its bright verdant lawn and neat outlying buildings, and 
so we speed swiftly on until by and by we glide into the 
laro:e station at Paris. 



164 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XI. 

IN passing through Paris we shall pause to present a few 
sketches representative of the great French capital. 
It is the gayest metropolis of Europe, the spot where the 
traveller is most inclined to linger, and whose siren voice 
is most dangerous to the inexperienced. Its attractions 
are innumerable, combining unequalled educational advan- 
tages in art, literature, and the learned professions, together 
with unlimited temptations to frivolity. Here are offered 
daily, without money and without price, lectures upon all 
themes known to science, free schools in all departments 
of learning, free art museums and free art galleries, such 
as can hardly be excelled in the world. 

The finest view to be had in the city may be enjoyed by 
taking one's stand in the Tuileries Garden and looking 
straight across the Place de la Concorde to the far-away 
Arc de Triomphe. Here is a clear view, in the very heart 
of Paris, two miles long, over the entire length of the 
Champs Elysees. The only thing to impede the sight in 
the least degree is the grand old column of Luxor, which 
stands in the middle of the Place de la Concorde, but 
which is of only needle-like proportions in so comprehen- 
sive a view as we speak of. This is the finest square of 
the city, and indeed we may go further and say the finest 
in all Europe. It is bounded on the north by the spacious 
buildings occupied by the Ministry of the Marine, on the 
south by the Seine, here crossed by the Pont des Inva- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 65 

lides, and having the Tuileries on the east and the Champs 
Elysees on the west. As this is the first square in Europe, 
so is the Champs Elysees, which opens out of it, the 
grandest boulevard in the world. It is divided into three 
alleys, liberally planted with trees, the principal entrance 
being marked by the celebrated sculptures known as the 
" Horses of Marly," standing like sentinels, one on each 
side of the broad carriage-way. This is the road leading 
to the Bois de Boulogne, the favorite pleasure-drive of the 
Parisians, where also may be found the fine race-grounds 
and the Jardin d'Acclimation, with its superb and un- 
rivalled collection of wild animals and rare birds. 

Sunday is a weekly recurring carnival here, on which 
occasions the races and the military reviews take place, 
and all Paris seeks to amuse itself by open air pleasures. 
Fifty thousand people and more throng the Champs Ely- 
sees ; the toy and refreshment booths drive a lucrative 
business ; the numerous goat and pony wagons for chil- 
dren are in constant use. One little turn-out is particularly 
noticeable, consisting of four well-trained Newfoundland 
dogs, elegantly harnessed and attended by a couple of 
servants in livery, a boy of ten or twelve years holding the 
lines from his seat in the light and graceful little vehicle. 
Merry young misses drive their ribbon-decked hoops with 
special relish, and roguish boys spin their tops with equal 
zeal. Clouds of toy-balloons, of various colors and sizes, 
flash high above the heads of itinerant vendors, while the 
sparkling fountains throw up softly musical jets every- 
where. Soldiers off duty, strolling idly about, dot the 
scene with their various uniforms, their shining helmets, 
and elaborate gold lace. The busy road-way is crowded 
by a thousand turnouts, drawn by high-stepping horses. 



1 66 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Delighted youths, of both sexes, mount wooden horses in 
the merry-go-rounds and enjoy their ride at a cost of a 
couple of cents. Lofty aerial cars, upon huge revolving 
wheels, afford as much delight and more risk to other 
youths. Punch and Judy, and the man with the air-gun 
and conspicuous mark, are also present. A performing 
monkey divides the honors and pennies with the rest 
of the entertainers. Not far away an acrobat, in flesh- 
colored tights, lies upon the carpeted ground and tosses a 
lad, dressed in spangled thin clothes, into the air, catching 
him upon his foot again as he comes down, and twirling 
him so rapidly that the boy becomes invisible. Such is 
a glimpse of the Champs Ely sees on Sunday. 

Strangers in Paris do not forget to visit the Expiatory 
Chapel, erected by Louis the Eighteenth to the memory 
of Louis the Sixteenth, Marie Antoinette, and other vic- 
tims of the Revolution, which took place about a cen- 
tury since. Historic recollections crowd upon us as we 
stand within this small but beautiful chapel. Time has 
softened the sternness of judgment relating to the king 
and queen ; and we all pause to admire their bearing in ad- 
versity, but are forced to the conclusion " that nothing in 
their life so well became them as the manner of their 
leaving it." The queen was remarkable for her dignity of 
person, which she loved to increase by the accessories 
of ornament, until, as a writer of that period tells us, cov- 
ered with diamonds and precious stones, she was literally 
a thing of light. But Marie Antoinette, in the dungeons 
of the Conciergerie, in her widow's cap and patched black 
dress, was worthier of love and veneration than when she 
blazed as the royal star of Versailles. 

The flower market of this large capital is ever sugges- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 167 

tive and interesting. The women, of all ages, who bring 
these floral gems to the city, exhibit a taste in their 
arrangement which would be of value to a professional 
artist. One may detect a living poem in each little depart- 
ment. The principal square devoted to this purpose is 
situated just over the Pont Neuf and borders the Seine. 
The market is changed so as to be held for two days of 
each week under the shadow of the Madeleine, in the 
Place de la Madeleine, the noblest of modern Christian 
temples in its chaste architecture. As we come down 
from the Rue Scribe, in the early part of the day, we see 
vehicles, with liveried attendants, pause while the fair 
occupants purchase a cluster of favorite flowers ; dainty 
beauties on foot come hither to go away laden with fra- 
grant gems, while well-dressed men deck their button- 
holes with a bit of color and fragrance combined. Here is 
a white-frocked butcher selecting a full-blown pot of pan- 
sies, and here a sad-faced woman, in widow's weeds, takes 
away a wreath of immortelles — to-night it will deck a tomb 
in the cemetery of Pere la Chaise. This giddy and ner- 
vous fellow, who is full of smiles, takes away a wedding 
wreath — price is no object to him. Yonder is a pale- 
faced shop-girl — what sunny yet half-sad features she has ! 
She must perhaps forego her dinner in order to possess 
that pot of mignonette, but she trips lightly away with it 
in a happy mood. 

The most interesting church here is that of Notre Dame, 
whose massive towers greet the eye in every comprehen- 
sive view of the city. The present structure is probably 
not over seven hundred years old, but it stands upon a 
site successively occupied by a Pagan temple and a Chris- 
tian church of the time of the early kings. The present 



1 68 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

building presents one of the most perfect examples of 
Gothic architecture extant. It contains about forty sepa- 
rate chapels. Here the late Emperor and Empress were 
married, in January, 1853, just fifty-two years after the 
coronation of the first Napoleon in the same place. 

A little way from Notre Dame, upon a street situated 
behind it and near the Pont St. Louis, is the Morgue, or 
dead-house of Paris, at all times open to the public, where 
are exposed the corpses of unknown persons who have met 
their death in the streets or the Seine by violence or 
drowning. These bodies remain here three days for the pur- 
pose of identification. If not recognized and claimed by 
friends, they are then buried at the expense of the city, or 
consigned to the dissecting-tables. There are brought here 
during the year, the officer in charge will tell us, over three 
hundred bodies, two-thirds of whom are men, and about 
one-third women. A large number of the latter are known 
to be suicides, and are recovered from the waters of the 
Seine, close at hand. 

The daily scenes occurring in the gardens of the Tuile- 
ries, which open from the Place de la Concorde, are char- 
acteristic. The spacious grounds, adorned • with stately 
trees, fountains, tiny lakes, statues, and flowers, the latter 
kept fresh and green by artificial means nearly all the year 
round, form an ever-varying attraction. Hundreds of 
merry children enliven every nook and corner by their 
careless, happy voices. The gayest of promenaders of both 
sexes throng the broad, smooth paths in the after part of 
the day. Round the fountains the sparrows, as tame as 
the pigeons of St. Mark at Venice, light upon one's arms 
and shoulders, convinced that the only legitimate business 
of the world is to supply them with cake and biscuit. Now 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 169 

there break upon the ear the strains of a full military band 
posted among the trees, and brilliant music adds its charm to 
the attractive scene. This is one side of the picture ; we 
may perhaps with profit to ourselves turn to the other. 
The same bell that rings out the marriage peal, tolls forth 
the funeral knell ; sweet flowers that deck the bridal altar, 
are also brought to lay upon the tomb. We have not far 
to go in seeking for the shadow of the Tuileries gardens. 
Misery in all its varied forms is to be found in the Fau- 
bourg St. Antoine, partially hidden by almost transparent 
screens from the naked eye. Crime, sickness, starvation, 
death, all are within no great distance of these beautiful re- 
sorts. Dark streets where thieves and outcasts slink away 
from the light of day like hunted animals ; where one reads 
hunger and want in silent human faces ; where men are 
met whose villanous expression only too plainly betrays 
their criminal nature. 

All strangers make a visit to Pere la Chaise, the historic 
burial-ground of the French capital. Its two hundred 
acres of monuments, tombs, and costly sepulchres present 
only a sad and sombre aspect to the eye, as unlike to 
Greenwood, Mount Auburn, or Forest Hills, as narrow 
streets and brick houses are unlike the green and open 
fields of the country. One reads upon the tombs, how- 
ever, the familiar historic names with vivid interest, such 
as Rossini, Moliere, Scribe, Alfred de Musset, Talma, 
Arago, and others. One remarkable tomb attracts us ; it 
is that of Abelard and Heloise, upon which some hand 
has just placed fresh flowers. One cannot but respect 
the sentiment which would perpetuate the memory of this 
hero and heroine of seven hundred years ago. There are 
sixty thousand tombs, mausoleums, and memorial stones 



I/O FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

within these grounds, but none equal this one tomb for 
interest. 

We must not forget to visit the Cluny Museum, situated 
on the Rue des Mathurins, near the Boulevard St. Michel. 
The remarkable collection of historic relics of the Middle 
Ages and subsequent period, consisting of glass, porcelain, 
tapestry, carvings, weapons, and domestic utensils, are 
tangible history of great interest. The building itself in 
which these treasures are exhibited is a curiosity five or six 
hundred years in age, near the very extensive remains of 
Julian's palace. With one exception this is the only visi- 
ble structure of the Roman period that still exists in the 
city of Paris. The other is the Roman Amphitheatre, 
situated in the Rue Monge. Here, not long since, coins 
were found, bearing the date of the time of Adrian. 

On the Rue Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries gardens, stands 
a bronze equestrian statue, erected within the last few 
years, representing Joan of Arc. As we look upon it, the 
mind reverts to the romantic story of the maid of Dom- 
remy, which this tardy act of justice commemorates. 
A conclave of bishops sent her to the stake at Rouen 
— an act as unwarrantable as the hanging of innocent 
women for witches in the early days of New England. 
History repeats itself, and the victims of one generation 
become the idols of the next. We like best to believe 
that this simple maid was inspired to do the work which 
she so well performed. At the age of thirteen she began 
to devote herself to liberate her country from the English 
invaders, selling the very bed she slept upon to aid in the 
equipment of soldiers for the field. Joan was but eighteen 
years old when she appeared before Charles VH. and told 
him that she was impelled by Heaven to raise the siege 



yo URNE YlNGS IM MANY LANDS. 1 7 1 

of Orleans, and to conduct him to Rheiras to be crowned. 
She was young and beautiful ; the king believed in her ; 
the soldiers thought she was inspired, and so followed her 
to victory. City after city surrendered to her, battle after 
battle was won under her leadership, until Charles was in- 
deed crowned at Rheims ; but, through the influence of her 
English enemies, the brave and modest maid was con- 
demned as a sorceress and burned at the stake ! 

It is foreigners, not Parisians, who support the splendid 
jewelry and other fancy stores of the boulevards, as well 
as the thousand extravagant hotels of the metropolis. 
Paris is the mart of the world for fancy goods. It is the 
policy of the government to establish and freely maintain 
such attractions as shall draw to the city strangers from 
all parts of the world, who come and empty their well- 
filled purses into the pockets of French merchants. But 
let us not forget that the best means of education are free 
to all, the poorest scholar being welcome to the unrivalled 
libraries and archives, as well as to the splendid advantages 
of the art galleries. Scientific lectures and the rarest 
books upon special themes are free to him, while every 
facility which the government can control is liberally offered 
to the humble but ambitious student of science and of art. 

We start for Lyons by the way of Fontainebleau, which 
is situated about forty miles from Paris. The Palace was 
founded over seven hundred years ago, and has been kept 
during all these years in perfect condition, each new mon- 
arch adding to its embellishments, until it forms to-day a 
magnificent museum of art. There are over eight hundred 
apartments, all of which are sumptuously decorated and fur- 
nished. Here was signed the revocation Edict of Nantes ; 
from here was announced the divorce of Josephine ; and 



172 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

here Napoleon the First signed his abdication. The Pal- 
ace is surrounded by beautiful and extensive gardens, 
small lakes, and fountains. The famous forest of Fon- 
tainebleau is of more than passing interest ; there is no 
such wooded and shady drive elsewhere in the world as is 
afforded by the admirably kept roads that intersect the 
sixty-four square miles covered by this forest, and in the 
midst of which is the town. The inhabitants number 
twelve thousand, added to which there is here a military 
station with barracks for about a thousand men. Until 
within a few years the forest was the resort of persons 
from the capital who had affairs to settle with sword 
or pistol, but police arrangements have put an end to 
this business. 

Lyons has a population of half a million, and ranks as 
the second city of France in that respect. The manu- 
facture of silk is the great industry here, and everybody 
seems to be in some way interested in forwarding this 
business. There are between forty and fifty thousand silk- 
looms actively employed. In the extent of its silk trade 
it is the first city in the world. Being located at the con- 
fluence of two important rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, 
the city has almost the advantage of a maritime port, 
besides which it has ample railroad connections. After 
a day's rest at Lyons, we will proceed on our journey by 
rail to the city of Marseilles, the first commercial port of 
the Mediterranean. 

The importance of Marseilles as a business centre can 
hardly be overestimated, its harbor having safe accommo- 
dations for over a thousand ships at the same time. The 
flags of Italy, Portugal, England, and America mingle with 
those of the far East at her quays. In the breezy streets 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 73 

of the town surrounding the harbor, we meet Turks, Ital- 
ians, Spaniards, British tars, and the queerly dressed sailors 
of the Grecian Archipelago, while a Babel of tongues rings 
upon the ear. This is the principal port for embarkation 
to reach Corsica, Genoa, Leghorn, Constantinople, and 
Smyrna, the harbor being the finest in France, and it has 
been prominent in its commercial connections for fully 
two thousand years. Marseilles, with a population of 
four hundred thousand, is remarkable for the number and 
excellence of its public institutions, among which is a 
royal exchange, a national observatory, an academy of 
sciences, a public library, a school of design, a dfeaf 
and dumb institute, a museum of paintings and anti- 
quities, etc. The Palace of Longchamps, standing upon 
one of the most prominent spots in the city, is a museum, 
geological school, library, and picture gallery combined. 
It is a superb structure architecturally, and cost over 
seven millions of dollars. 

Overlooking the city of Marseilles is the hill of Notre 
Dame de la Garde, a lofty eminence, which seen from the 
town appears to be hung in the very clouds. Skilful en- 
gineering has made a winding road to the apex accessible 
for vehicles. Once reached, this lofty spot affords one 
of the most delightful and comprehensive views on the 
continent, embracing a wide extent of sea and land. Im- 
mediately beneath the visitor's feet lies the city, nearly 
encircled by vine-clad hills, interspersed by chateaux, Swiss 
and English cottages, all assuming Lilliputian proportions. 
The winding cliff-road looks like a silver thread, and the 
blue Mediterranean, dotted here and there with sails and 
steamships, glistens in the warm, soft sunshine. But the 
bird's-eye view of the city is a marvel in its perfection and 



174 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

comprehensiveness. This hill is named after the singular 
Roman Catholic chapel upon its cloud-capped summit. It 
is visible for many leagues at sea, and is the subject of 
mysterious veneration to sailors who navigate these inland 
waters. A large number of curious articles from all parts 
of the world contributed by believing sailors are to be seen' 
within its walls, in the form of rich samples of ores, shells, 
corals, and savage weapons from the far-away South Sea 
Islands, forming a kind of religious museum. 

From Marseilles we take the railway route to Nice, a 
distance of one hundred and forty miles. This world- 
renowned sanitary resort is most delightfully situated at 
the base of an amphitheatre of hills, which are decked with 
villas, gardens, orange and olive groves. Roses bloom 
out of doors all the year round, and fruit ripens on the 
trees in January. Nice has a population of about sixty- 
five thousand. The foot-hills of the Alpine range come 
so close to the town as to cut off all the view inland, but 
the opposite side is open to the far-reaching Mediter- 
ranean, which curves gracefully in crescent form to make 
the beautiful bay of Nice. Lying so very close to the 
Italian frontier, the people are as much of that nationality 
as of France, and both languages are spoken. The old 
portion of the town is Roman in many of its character- 
istics, and here those former masters of the world had an 
important naval station in the days of Augustus. Dirty as 
this portion of Nice is, one lingers here a little to study 
the quaint architecture, and the aspects of humble life. 
The peculiarities of dress, habits, and general appearance 
of the people differ materially from other continental towns. 
Half-clad, bare-footed boys and girls of twelve or fourteen 
years of age abound, many of them with such beauty of 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. I 75 

face and form as to make us sigh for the possibilities of 
their young Hves probably never to be fulfilled. Under 
favorable auspices what a happy future might fall to their 
share ! A year or two more of wretched associations, idle 
habits, and want of proper food and clothing will age them 
terribly. What a serious social problem is presented by 
such lives ! 

All strangers who come hither visit Cimies, about three 
miles from Nice, upon a lofty hillside, where there are 
some remarkable Roman ruins, among which is a spacious 
amphitheatre, once capable of seating eight or ten thou- 
sand spectators. This place, like the neighboring Convent 
of Cinieres, is more than a thousand years old, and so well 
built that the intervening centuries have not been able to 
disintegrate its masonry to any great extent. It is upon a 
Sunday afternoon that we visit the amphitheatre and con- 
vent. The Franciscan monks, who alone inhabit the ter- 
race, seem to be rather a jolly set of men, notwithstanding 
their coarse dress, shaven heads, and bare feet. The Sab- 
bath does not interfere with their game of tennis, which a 
group of them pursue with great earnestness in the pleas- 
ant old garden of the monastery, now and then disputing 
a little rudely as to the conduct of the game. One of the 
brethren is our guide ; he explains intelligently what we 
desire to understand, and gives us a drink of water out of 
the old well from which the Romans drank so many hun- 
dred years ago, and which he assures us has never been 
known to fail of yielding pure water. 

Mentone, the border town between France and Italy, is 
situated fifteen miles from Nice. We pass through it on 
the route to Genoa. A deep ravine forms the dividing 
line between the two countries, spanned by the bridge of St. 



1/6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Louis. Mentone is a favorite resort for persons suffering 
with pulmonary affections, and has about ten thousand in- 
habitants. It is characterized by very beautiful scenery 
bordering the great classic sea, and lying at the base of 
the Maritime Alps. Adjoining the town is the principality 
of Monaco, an independent state covering an area of less 
than fifty square miles. It is a curious fact that the inde- 
pendence of this spot has been respected by Europe for so 
many years, and that it is to-day ruled over by a descend- 
ant of the house of Gr'aialdi, by whom the principality was 
founded in the tenth century. The castle, which forms 
also the palace of the Prince of Monaco, is situated on a 
rocky promontory overlooking the sea and the wonderful 
coast scenery between Nice and Mentone. Here the 
prince maintains a battalion of soldiers who perform guard 
duty and keep up the semblance of military authority. His 
subjects are supposed to number about three thousand. 
To sustain his princely state he must have a revenue other 
than could be derived from taxation of so small a popula- 
tion, and the main source of his income is very well known. 
The dominion of the prince is now the only legalized gam- 
bling spot in Europe, and from the permit thus granted he 
receives an annual payment of half a million dollars. 

Monte Carlo, the headquarters of the gambling frater- 
nity, lies within a mile of the palace on the shore line. 
The beautiful spot where the "Casino" (gambling saloon) 
is situated is one of the most picturesque which can be 
iconceived of, overlooking from a considerable height the 
Mediterranean Sea. To the extraordinary beauties ac- 
corded by nature man has added his best efforts, lavishing 
money to produce unequalled attractions. There is here 
an elegant hotel, brilliant cafe, attractive saloons, delightful 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. lyj 

gardens, floral bowers, shooting-galleries, in short, nearly 
every possible device to fascinate and occupy the visitor. 
The roads over which we drive in this vicinity are full of 
interest, besides the delightful views which greet us on 
every hand. Wayside shrines to the Virgin are seen at 
every cross-road, and upon every hillside we meet scores 
of priests ; the little church-bells are ringing incessantly ; 
the roads are thronged with beggars ; the beautiful-faced 
but ragged children attract us by their bright eyes and 
dark complexions, just touched with a soft rose-tint. We 
are surprised at the multiplicity of donkeys, their bodies 
hidden by big loads of merchandise ; we observe with inter- 
est those handsome milk-white oxen, with wide-spreading 
horns ; we inhale the fragrance of the orange groves, and 
remember that we are in Italy. 

About a.hundred miles from St. Mauro, the border town 
after crossing the bridge of St. Louis, will take us by the 
Corniche road to Genoa. This ancient capital rises in 
terrace form, presenting the aspect of an amphitheatre 
whose base is the water's edge, while the city is situated 
between the two lofty hills of Carignano on the east and 
St. Benigno on the west. The harbor of Genoa is semi- 
circular in form, nearly a mile across, and is protected by 
two substantial piers, on one of which is a lighthouse 
three hundred feet in height. From the seaward end of 
the lighthouse pier we have a fine view of the town, the 
slope being covered with palaces, churches, hotels, gardens, 
forts, and public buildings. The arsenal, the prison, the 
custom-house, and government warehouses all cluster about 
the wharves, where great business activity centres at all 
times. The older part of the city consists of narrow and 
confusing lanes, accessible only to foot-passengers. In 



178 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OF, 

the olden days, when this city was first laid out after the 
fashion of the times, it was crowded with fortified lines, 
and perched upon elevations to aid in resisting the at- 
tack of an invading enemy. The newer portions present 
broad, accessible thoroughfares, with one or two elegant 
boulevards. 

The number of marble palaces in Genoa is really sur- 
prising, but they are built in streets so narrow that their 
elaborate fronts lose architectural effect. These were not 
all occupied by the class termed the nobility, but were 
often the homes of merchant princes. Many of these 
structures are now vacant or occupied for business pur- 
poses. Splendid marble corridors and mosaic floors, with 
halls opening from grand marble staircases, seem ill- 
adapted to the purposes of common trade. A few of these 
structures belong to people whose condition enables them 
to retain them as dwellings ; others have been purchased 
by the government and are occupied as public offices ; and 
still others are hotels. This city was the birthplace of 
Columbus, the " Great Genoese Pilot," who first showed 
the way across the then trackless ocean to a western world. 
Almost the first object to attract the attention of the trav- 
eller on emerging from the railroad depot is the statue of 
Columbus in a broad open space. It was erected so late 
as 1862, and stands upon a pedestal ornamented with ships' 
prows. At the feet of the statue kneels the figure of 
America, the whole monument being of white marble, and 
surrounded by allegorical figures in a sitting posture, rep- 
resenting Religion, Geography, Force, and Wisdom. 

There are many noble public institutions in Genoa, 
noticeable among which is the general hospital and the 
asylum for the poor, as it is called, capable of sheltering 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 179 

sixteen hundred people. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum 
and the Hospital for the Insane are the best organized in 
Italy. The Public Library contains some hundred and 
twenty thousand bound volumes, and is open for free use 
at all suitable hours. There is also an Academy of Fine 
Arts, with an admirable collection of paintings and sculp- 
ture : many of the examples are from the hands of the 
old masters. 

The Cathedral of St. Lorenzo is richly worthy of our 
attention. Among the curiosities to be seen within its 
walls are the two urns said to contain the ashes of St. 
John the Baptist, which are paraded with religious pomp 
through the streets of the city once a year. They are 
said to have been brought from the city of Myrrha in 
Lycia, in the year 1097. There is also exhibited here an 
emerald dish, which is an object of great veneration with 
the Genoese, and which is said to have held the Paschal 
Lamb at the Last Supper. It was captured from the 
Saracens, in the year iioi, at the storming of Cesarea. 

From elevated points in and about Genoa most charm- 
ing and extended views of the Mediterranean are enjoyed. 
It is not the tranquil and lake-like expanse which inex- 
perience would believe it to be, but is capable of nearly as 
fierce commotion as the angry waves of the Atlantic itself. 
It is still navigated very much as it was of old by the 
Greeks, the Phoenicians, and the Romans. The mariners 
still hug the shore, and at every unfavorable change of 
weather run into the nearest safe anchorage. Thus most 
of the coasting-vessels are under one hundred tons' meas- 
urement, and are of a model which will permit of their 
being beached upon the shelving shore in an emergency. 
It seems to be generally believed that this sea is tideless, 



I.8o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

but it is not the case ; it feels the same lunar influence 
which affects the ocean, though in a less degree. These 
waters are warmer than the Atlantic, owing probably to 
the absence of polar currents. The Mediterranean is 
almost entirely enclosed by the continents of Europe, Asia, 
and Africa, and covers a space of a million of square miles, 
being over two thousand miles long and, in one place, more 
than a thousand wide. The tide is most noticeable in the 
Gulf of Venice, where the rise and fall is from three to 
four feet. 

Before leaving Genoa we will drive out to the Campo 
Santo, or public burial ground. It is a remarkable place 
laid out in terraces, containing many monuments, and 
having in its centre a large circular chapel with Doric 
columns, the vestibule walls also containing tombs, bearing 
an inscription on the face of each. Seeing in many in- 
stances small baskets partially wrapped in paper or linen 
laid beside or on the graves about the Campo Santo, one 
is apt to inquire what their significance can be, and he 
will be told that food is thus placed from time to time, for 
the sustenance of the departed ! 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. i8l 



CHAPTER XII. 

WE embark at Genoa for Leghorn by a coasting- 
steamer. On arriving at the latter port the first 
thing which strikes the traveller is the mixed character of 
the population, composed of Greeks, Armenians, Turks, 
Moors, and Italians, whose strongly individualized costumes 
give picturesqueness and color to the public ways. Until 
within the last two centuries Leghorn was a very small 
village, and therefore presents comparatively a modern 
aspect, with its present population of about a hundred 
and twenty thousand. The streets are wide, well laid out, 
and regularly paved, the northern section of the city being 
intersected by canals, enabling the merchants to float their 
goods to the doors of their warehouses. Its fine situation 
upon the Mediterranean shore is its one recommendation, 
forming an entry port connected with Rome, Pisa, and 
other inland cities of Italy. There are pointed out to us 
here three special hospitals, an observatory, a poorhouse 
and a public library, but there is not much of local interest. 
An excursion of fifteen miles by railway will take us to 
Pisa, one of the oldest cities of Italy, and formerly the 
capital of the grand duchy of Tuscany, being finely situ- 
ated on the banks of the Arno, which divides the city into 
two parts, and is crossed by three noble bridges. The 
population is about fifty thousand, and it has broad, hand- 
some streets, with a number of spacious squares, fine 
churches, and public edifices. The most attractive part of 



1 82 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the city is that lining the Arno, where there are several 
palaces of some architectural pretensions. The great at- 
traction of Pisa lies just outside of the city proper, consist- 
ing of a group of edifices which are celebrated all over the 
world. These are the Cathedral, the Baptistery, and the 
Belfry, or, as it is more generally known, the Leaning 
Tower. Each of these is separated from the others by 
several rods. The Cathedral is the oldest structure, and 
has an existence covering a thousand years. The iso- 
lation of these buildings from the town, and their com- 
plete separation from each other, add very much to their 
general effect. The Cathedral, built entirely of white 
marble, is crowned by a noble dome, which is supported by 
over seventy pillars, while it is gorgeously furnished with 
almost innumerable art treasures, paintings, variegated 
marbles, panels, superb colored glass windows, and statues. 
The altar and the pulpit rest upon pillars of porphyry. The 
roof is not arched, but is of wood, divided into sections and 
elaborately gilded, — a very ancient style of finish found 
only in the oldest churches upon the continent. The doors 
are of bronze finely sculptured. In the nave the guide 
will call our attention to a large bronze hanging-lamp, the 
oscillations of which are said to have suggested to Galileo 
the theory of the pendulum. The Baptistery, or Church of 
St. John, is situated nearly opposite the Cathedral, a most 
beautifully shaped church, which is noted for a marvellous 
echo. 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is one of the famous struc- 
tures of the world. It is seven stories high, the summit 
measuring one hundred and eight feet from the ground. 
Each story is divided by rows of columns, so that archi- 
tecturally it has a resemblance to the other buildings near 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 83 

at hand. There are many theories as to the leaning posi- 
tion of this tower, but no two persons seem to quite agree 
upon the matter. A plummet and line depending from the 
top would strike the ground some ten feet from the base 
of the structure. It has stood here for more than six hun- 
dred years, and does not appear to be in any danger of fall- 
ing. A view from the upper gallery, over which hangs a 
chime of heavy bells, is very fine, embracing the fertile 
plains of Tuscany. 

Near at hand is the Campo Santo, a cloistered cemetery 
constructed many centuries ago. It is a large rectangular 
enclosure surrounded by arcades. After the loss of the 
Holy Land the Pisans caused some fifty shiploads of soil 
to be brought hither from Mt. Calvary, in order that the 
dead might rest in what was conceived to be holy ground. 
It was in this Campo Santo that the earliest Tuscan artists 
were taught to emulate each other, and here the walls are 
covered with remarkable representations of Scriptural and 
historical subjects. The originals of many pictures made 
familiar to us by engravings, are still to be found here, 
such as " Noah Inebriated," " Building of the Tower of 
Babel," "The Last Judgment," etc. The tombstones of 
those whose remains rest here, form the pavement of the 
arcades. The sculptures, monuments, and bas-reliefs in 
the Campo Santo are almost innumerable, forming a 
strange and varied collection. 

The history of Pisa is of great antiquity, having been 
one of the famous twelve towns of Etruria. It maintained 
its municipal government and almost unlimited freedom 
while nominally under Roman protection, but on the de- 
cline of the imperial power it was compelled to submit in 
turn to the various transalpine nations who overran North- 



1 84 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ern Italy. Early in the eleventh century it had risen to 
the rank of a powerful republic and to this period belong 
most of the splendid monuments on which it now justly 
prides itself. Its soldiers were conspicuous in the crusades, 
and at that time its fleets were the most powerful that 
navigated the Mediterranean Sea. 

Returning to Leghorn we embark for Naples by steamer. 
As we glide slowly into the lovely bay just as the morning 
light is breaking in the east, we feel that no more propi- 
tious hour for arrival could be devised, and are glad that 
the viev/ of the city is presented to us for the first time 
from the sea rather than from the shore. How impressive 
is the historic scene which gradually spreads out before us 
as we steam slowly in by the islands of Procida and Cape 
Miseno, while we behold what an imaginative writer has 
termed "a fragment of heaven to earth vouchsafed"; it 
certainly seems more like a picture than like reality. Few 
cities on the globe are so famous for their advantageous 
site as is Naples. It lies in amphitheatre form on the 
shore of the classic bay, which is shut in from the sea by 
the island of Capri, extending in part across its entrance 
to the southeast, while to the northwest loom up the beau- 
tiful islands of Procida and Ischia, so full of sad and his- 
toric associations. It will be remembered that many of 
the population were engulfed at Ischia by an earthquake 
within a few years past. On the eastern side of this pano- 
ramic view rises Vesuvius, with its bold and isolated pinna- 
cle, while its dusky sides are dotted up to within half the 
distance of the summit by villages, hamlets, villas, and 
vineyards, awaiting the destruction which it would seem 
must come sooner or later. Along the base of the volcano 
lie the towns of Portici, Annunziata, and Torre del Greco, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 185 

everything glittering in the light of the rising sun. The 
eyes cannot rest upon a spot which has not its classic as- 
sociation, turn which way we will. In the distance east- 
ward is seen Castellamare and Sorrento on the right curve 
of the crescent-shaped shore, while on the left lie Solfa- 
tara and Pozzuoli. What a shore to look upon, where 
Cicero, Horace, Virgil, Tasso, Pliny, and Macaenas lived ! 
How thrillingly beautiful it is, as we creep slowly up to 
our moorings in the soft, dewy freshness of the morning! 

In direct contrast to all this beauty of nature and pic- 
turesqueness of scenery, as soon as we land there comes 
before our eyes so much of dirt, poverty, and beggary, as 
to cause us to shudder. How humanity outrages the loveli- 
ness of nature! Begging is reduced to a profession here; 
thousands of both sexes and of all ages have no other em- 
ployment or seeming ambition than to beg at every oppor- 
tunity, to fill their stomachs with food, and then, like the 
inferior animals, to stretch themselves in the sun until 
again aroused by hunger. There is no quarter of the city 
exempt from this pest of beggary. The palace and the 
hovel join each other in strange incongruity; starvation 
and abundance are close together ; elegance and rags are 
in juxtaposition ; the city has nearly half a million popu- 
lation, and this condition applies to all its streets. There 
are many fine public buildings, and yet they can lay 
no special claim to architectural excellence. The old 
streets are narrow, crooked, and in some places ascended 
by steps, on an angle of forty-five degrees ; but the modern 
part of the city is well laid out. The Strada di Roma is 
the Broadway of Naples, a fine, busy street, more than a 
mile in length and lined with elegant business stores, cafes, 
hotels, and public offices. The famous Riviera di Chiaja, 



1 86 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

or Quay, is also a noble street running along the shore of 
the bay, lined on one side by an almost endless array of 
palaces, and on the other by the long park separating it 
from the sea. 

This Chiaja is the famous drive-way of Naples, and is a 
broad and beautiful street by which we enter the city 
from the west. Just about sunset this thoroughfare 
presents daily a scene more peculiar and quite as gay ^ as 
the Bois de Boulogne, or the Prater of Vienna, being 
crowded at that hour by the beauty and fashion of the 
town enjoying an afternoon drive or horseback ride. 
Here may be seen gigs driven by young Neapolitans m 
dashing style, and some smart brushes in the way of rac- 
ing take place. The small Italian horses are real flyers, 
and are driven only too recklessly over the crowded course. 
Mingling with thfe throng are long lines of donkeys laden 
with merchandise, keeping close to the side of the way 
in order to avoid the fast drivers; pedestrians of both 
sexes dodging out and in among the vehicles ; cavalry offi- 
cers cantering on showy horses ; and the inevitable army 
of beggars with outstretched hands pleading for alms, 
among whom is an occasional mendicant friar also solicit- 
ing a few pennies. 

It is not alone the common classes who live so much 
in the streets. It is not alone the palace windows that 
are filled with spectators all along the drive-way of the 
Chiaja during the carnival hour of the day, but before each 
residence are gathered a domestic group sitting content- 
edly in the open air, bareheaded and in gauze-like costume. 
Some of the ladies employ their hands with dainty needle- 
work, some are crocheting, others are engaged in simple 
domestic games, and all are chatting, laughing, and enjoy- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 187 

ing themselves heartily. The ladies wear the gayest colors, 
these adding vividness to the whole picture. To complete 
the strongly individualized scene, there are the graceful 
palms, orange-trees, and fountains of the park, amid abun- 
dant marble statuary, and flowering shrubs, with the sea, 
Capri, and Vesuvius for a background, which together make 
up the view of the Chiaja at twilight. 

Naples is very peculiar in the aspect of its out-of-door 
life ; we see the public letter-writer at his post in the open 
square ; the common people are conducting most of their 
domestic affairs outside of their dwellings. Sellers of 
macaroni, oranges, grapes, fish, vegetables, flowers, and 
hawkers of every sort fill the air with their shrill cries. 
Common-looking men fling thin, greasy, tattered cloaks 
over their shoulders, with a proud air and inimitable grace ; 
groups of half-clad children play in the dirt ; whole fami- 
lies cook and eat in the street ; while liveried turn-outs are 
dashing hither and thither. No matter in which direction 
one may go in or around the city, there looms up heaven- 
ward the sky-piercing summit of Vesuvius, shrouding the 
blue ether all day long with its slowly-rising column of 
smoke, and the sulphuric breathing of its unknown depths. 
The burning mountain is about three leagues from the 
city, but is so lofty as to seem closer at hand. It is quite 
solitary, rising in a majestic manner from the plain, but 
having a base thirty miles in circumference and a height 
of about four thousand feet. When emitting fire as well 
as smoke, the scene is brilliant indeed as a night picture, 
mirrored in the clear surface of the beautiful bay. 

We find ourselves asking. What is the real life of Italy 
to-day ? The sceptre of Commerce has passed from her ; 
Venice is no longer the abode of merchant princes ; Genoa 



1 88 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

is but the shadow of what she once was. What causes a 
foreign population to circulate through its cities, constantly 
on the wing, scattering gold right and left among her 
needy population ? It is the rich, unique possession which 
she enjoys in her monuments of art, her museums, her libra- 
ries, her glorious picture-galleries, public and private, but 
all of which are freely thrown open to the traveller, and to 
all comers. The liberality of her nobles and merchant 
princes in the days of her great prosperity has left her now 
a resource which nothing can rob her of. Where could 
money purchase such attractions as crowd the museum of 
Naples 1 The marble groups and statues, mostly originals, 
number more than a thousand, including the Dying 
Gladiator, the famous group of Ganymede and the Eagle, 
and that of Bacchus and the Laocoon. Here also we have 
Psyche, Venus Callipyge, — this last dug up from Nero's 
golden home at Rome, — and hundreds of others of world- 
wide fame, and of which we have so many fine copies in 
America, Rome lies but a hundred and sixty miles north 
of Naples, and the " Eternal City " has largely contributed 
to the art treasures of the institution of which we are now 
speaking, and which secures to the city a floating popula- 
tion annually of several thousands. 

One of the greatest attractions of Naples is the partially 
exhumed city of Pompeii, three leagues more or less away. 
The drive thither skirts the Mediterranean shore, with its 
beautiful villas, private residences, convents, and churches, 
while the destructive mountain is always close at hand. 
The place in its present aspect is simply that of the re- 
mains of an entire city, destroyed and buried by volcanic 
action nearly two thousand years ago. The movable ob- 
jects found here from time to time, as the slow work of 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 189 

excavation has progressed, have been removed to the mu- 
seum at Naples. Quite enough, however, is left upon the 
spot to form tangible history, and to help the antiquarian 
to read the story of Pompeii, which was a populous city 
four or five centuries before the coming of Christ, and 
which lay entirely buried for some seventeen hundred 
years. It is about a century since the first effort was made 
towards uncovering the dwelling-houses, streets, and public 
edifices, but the progress which has been made clearly 
proves that the inhabitants were suffocated by a shower 
of hot ashes, and not destroyed by a sudden avalanche of 
lava and stones. The dwelling of Diomedes, who was the 
Croesus of Pompeii, was the first house disentombed. Its 
owner was found with a key in one hand and a bag of gold 
in the other. Behind him was a slave with his arms full of 
silver vessels, evidently trying to escape from the coming 
devastation when they were suddenly overwhelmed, and 
must have been instantly suffocated. 

In the house of Diomedes, glass windovv^s, six or eight 
inches square, are found ; showing that this article is not 
of such modern invention as had previously been supposed. 
The luxurious public baths are yet perfect ; while the house 
where Cicero lived and wrote his speeches, besides a hun- 
dred other well-preserved historic objects, are pointed out 
by the guides. We are shown the Temple of Hercules, 
the theatres, the open courts, etc. The excavated portion 
represents about one-third of the whole city ; but enough 
is clearly discovered to show that between thirty-five and 
forty thousand people here made their homes, and that the 
place contained all the fine public monuments and resorts 
that indicate a refined and luxurious community. 

An excursion of ten miles alons: the coast to the eastward 



I go 



FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



will take us to Bai^e, where the luxurious Romans were wont 
to resort for their summer seasons. Here are still to be seen 
the remains of the villas where once dwelt Julius Caesar, 
Pompey, Marius, and such other notables as they would 
naturally draw about them. The eyes can be turned in no 
direction without our being charmed by a view of excep- 
tional beauty, to say nothing of the unequalled historic 
interest that attaches to every square mile of territory and 
to the broad bay close at- hand. Horace declared it to be 
the loveliest spot on earth, and Seneca warned every one 
who desired to maintain dominion over himself to avoid 
this fascinating watering-place. It is here that Virgil 
laid many of his poetic scenes. 

A day's journey by railway takes us to Rome, the "Eter- 
nal City," which is built on both sides of the Tiber, three 
or four leagues from its influx to the Mediterranean. We 
know that this city must at one time have been nearly 
as populous as London is to-day, but the present number 
cannot much exceed four hundred thousand. The ruins 
of Rome — for it is a city of ruins, notwithstanding its 
many fine modern structures — can give but a faint idea 
of what the great capital was in the days of its glory. 
At the zenith of her fame the city was filled with grand 
squares, temples, amphitheatres, circuses, baths, and pub- 
lic and private palaces, scarcely more than the ruins of 
which now remain — eloquent, however, in their grim 
silence. In the days of the Cassars, fourteen grand 
aqueducts, supported by immense arches, hundreds of 
which still remain, conducted whole rivers into Rome 
from a distance of many leagues, supplying one hundred 
and fifty public fountains, with over a hundred public 
baths. In those marvellous days, over a hundred thou- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. I9I 

sand marble and bronze statues ornamented the public 
squares, streets, and fountains, together with ninety colos- 
sal statues on lofty pedestals, and over forty Egyptian 
obelisks were in place. What an enumeration ! Yet it 
falls far short of the facts as illustrated in the text of 
history and proven by the tangible evidence of number- 
less ruins. 

The Piazza del Popolo is a famous square in Roman 
history, in the centre of which is one of those curious 
obelisks transported from Egypt eighteen centuries ago, 
where it stood before the Temple of the Sun, at Heliopolis, 
thousands of years since. On one side of the square 
there are twin churches, far enough apart to permit the 
Corso, or Broadway of Rome, to enter the square between 
them. The Corso has an average width of fifty feet, and 
is a mile long. It is on this central street that the horse- 
races take place during the Carnival ; and it is here that 
the finest shops, cafes, and palaces are to be found. 

The Piazza di Spagna is another interesting square, about 
a quarter of a mile from that just described. It covers five 
or six acres of land, and has a curious old fountain in its 
centre. From one side of the square a grand, broad flight 
of stone steps leads up to the elevated ground where stands 
the church of Trinita de Monti. Lingering on and about 
these steps the artists' models are seen at all hours of 
the day, both sexes and all ages being represented among 
them. Old men of seventy years, with noble heads and 
flowing snowy beards, bent forms and tattered garments, 
sit patiently awaiting a demand upon them. Perhaps they 
could afford better clothing ; but they have an eye for artis- 
tic effect, and a true sense of the fitness of things. The 
children, waiting here for the same purpose, captivate our 



192 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

attention by their large black eyes and gypsy complexions. 
How graceful and kitten-like they are, in their lazy, lolling 
motions ! The young girls are such as are not seen out of 
Italy, with large, beautifully expressive eyes, gypsy com- 
plexions touched with the rose color of health, and forms 
which would establish a sculptor's reputation could he re- 
produce them. All of these persons are here for a legiti- 
mate purpose ; that is, to sit as models, for a given sum 
per hour, and to this object they honestly adhere. 

The favorite promenade of the Romans of to-day is the 
Pincio ("the hill of gardens "), situated near and overlooking 
the Piazza del Popolo. It probably derives its name from 
the Pincii family, whose estate it belonged to in the period 
of the Empire. Hereabouts, of old, were the celebrated 
gardens of Lucullus ; and here Messalina, wife of Claudius, 
indulged in revelries. Two afternoons of each week, as 
well as on all holidays, the king's military band gives a 
public concert in the Pincio gardens. The walks are 
kept in scrupulous neatness and order, shaded by groups 
of trees, and adorned by beautiful beds of flowers. At 
prominent points, fine marble statues of ancient Romans 
are conspicuously placed. The paths and drives about 
these gardens present a gay picture at the closing hours 
of each day, being the assembling-point of the social life 
of modern Rome. 

The Vatican, which is the Pope's palace, is one of the 
first and most remarkable attractions for the traveller. 
We say the palace, but it is actually a succession of pal- 
aces. This elegant stone structure, close to the Cathe- 
dral of St. Peter's, is three stories in height, and con- 
tains a vast number of saloons, galleries, chapels, and 
corridors, embracing a comprehensive library and a re- 



iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ 1 i,i'iiiiiiiiii|i'iiiiraiiiiiiiiiiiiiBii[i'iiMiiiiirpnniin'|iii'i 





JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 193 

markable museum, the whole surrounded by spacious and 
elegantly kept gardens. Twenty courts, eight grand stair- 
cases, and two hundred ordinary ones, are all contained 
within its walls. It is connected by a covered gallery 
with the castle of St. Angelo, a quarter of a mile away, 
and with St. Peter's, which it nearly adjoins. Probably 
no other building, or series of buildings, in the world con- 
tains so much wealth of art and riches generally as does 
the Vatican at Rome. Its treasures in gold, silver, pre- 
cious stones, books, priceless manuscripts, and relics, are 
almost beyond enumeration. All the world — ancient and 
modern, savage and Christian — has contributed to swell 
this remarkable accumulation. The two most celebrated 
paintings, and esteemed to be the two most valuable in 
existence, are to be seen here ; namely, " The Transfigura- 
tion," by Raphael, and "The Communion of St. Jerome," 
by Domenichino. So incomparable are these works of art 
that no critic of note has ventured to say which deserves 
to be named first ; but all agree that they are the two great- 
est paintings, as to real merit, in the world. They are 
colossal in size, and have both made the journey to Paris. 
Napoleon I. had them both transferred to the Louvre ; but 
they are back again, forming the great attraction of the 
Vatican. The " Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, 
covers one whole side of the Sistine Chapel, one of the 
very best of this great master's works, requiring hours of 
study to enable one to form a just conception of its design 
and merits, Raphael has a series of fifty other paintings 
within the walls of the Pope's palace. 

The most notable ruin in this ancient city is the Coli- 
seum, the largest amphitheatre, and still one of the most 
imposing structures, in the world ; broken in every part, 



194 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

but still showing, by what remains of its massive walls, 
what it must once have been. History tells us, that, upon 
its completion, it was inaugurated by gladiatorial combats 
continued for one hundred days ; during which time five 
thousand wild beasts were killed in contests with Christian 
slaves, who acted as gladiators. The Coliseum was begun 
by Vespasian, on his return from his war with the Jews, 
but was dedicated by his son Titus, and completed by Domi- 
tian over eighteen hundred years ago. Ten thousand 
captives are said to have been slain at the time of its dedi- 
cation, and it was designed to accommodate one hundred 
thousand spectators. The present circumference of the 
structure is about one-third of a mile. From the arena 
rise the tiers of seats, one above another, indicated by 
partially preserved steps and passage-ways. In its prime 
it was doubtless elegantly ornamented ; and some evidences 
of fine art still remain upon the crumbling and lofty walls. 
The material is a kind of freestone. The style of archi- 
tecture embraces four orders, imposed one upon another : 
the lower one is Tuscan or Doric ; the second, Roman- 
Ionic ; and the third and fourth, Corinthian or Composite. 
The Pantheon is the only entirely preserved edifice of 
Greek architecture in Rome. This grand and marvellous 
structure was originally dedicated to the Pagan gods, 
but is now a Christian church. It is the largest build- 
ing of ancient times, and whose splendid Corinthian col- 
umns fill the eye with pleasure at the first glance. The 
diameter of the structure is one hundred and fifty feet, 
and the summit of the upper cornice over one hundred feet 
from the base, the entire height being one hundred and 
fifty feet. The interior effect is one of true majesty, and 
that of the combined whole is deemed the acme of archi- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 195 

tectural perfection of the ancient buildings of Rome. The 
plates of gilded bronze which once covered the roof, the 
bronze ornaments of the pediment, and the silver that 
adorned the interior of the dome, it is said, were carried 
off by Constans II. more than a thousand years ago. 

St. Peter's is considered to be the most magnificent 
church of Italian or classical architecture in the world. 
Its extreme length within the walls is a trifle over six 
hundred feet, while its greatest width is about four hundred 
and fifty feet. The height, from the pavement to the cross 
at the apex, is four hundred and fifty-eight feet. By com- 
paring these dimensions with familiar objects, we can gain 
some general idea of the immensity of this structure, the 
largest ever reared by Christians in honor of the Supreme 
Being ; but only by frequent and long-continued visits do 
we finally come fully to realize its unequalled beauty and 
grandeur. 

As Florence only dates from three or four hundred years 
before Christ, it is not considered very ancient in the Old 
World. It sprang, undoubtedly, from Fiesole, at the foot 
of which it now lies. The Fiesole of the ancients was 
perched upon an almost inaccessible height, in accordance 
with the style in which they used to build in those days of 
constant warfare ; but as civilization advanced, the city of 
Florence began to grow up on the banks of the Arno and 
to cover the valley at the base of the paternal settlement, 
until, to-day, it has a population of about a hundred and 
fifty thousand. It did not assume any importance until 
the time of Charlemagne, from which period it grew rap- 
idly in numbers and in prosperity of trade, its early and 
long-continued specialty being the manufacture of Etrus- 
can jewelry and mosaics ; the latter business, especially, 



196 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

having descended from father to son until it has reached 
the present time. One may now purchase in the Floren- 
tine shops the finest specimens of the art to be found 
in all Europe. 

The square of St. Croce receives its name from the 
remarkable church of Santa Croce which is located here, 
and which is the Italian Pantheon or Westminster Abbey, 
where rest the ashes of Alfieri, Machiavelli, Galileo, and 
a score of equally historic names. What a galaxy of 
great poets, artists, statesmen, and philosophers are here 
sleeping in their winding-sheets. Another fine square is 
that of the Piazza della Annunziata, in which is situated 
the church of the same name, a foundling hospital, and 
an equestrian statue of Ferdinand I. by John of Bologna. 
The Piazza della Signoria is the busiest place in Florence, 
containing also some remarkable buildings, as well as stat- 
ues, fountains, and colonnades. The fine tower of one of 
the Boston city churches is copied from the lofty campa- 
nile, or bell-tower, of the Vecchio Palace, now occupied as 
the city hall, and which forms the most striking object in 
this interesting centre. 

The hills which overlook Florence are indeed classic 
ground. Here Catiline conspired, and Milton wrote ; here 
Michael Angelo occupied his studio, and Galileo conducted 
his discoveries, while here, also, Boccaccio wrote his famous 
love tales. These hillsides are dotted with beautiful villas, 
mostly owned by foreigners drawn hither in search of health, 
or the study of art. No other city in the world, not except- 
ing Rome, affords such extended facilities for the latter 
purpose. Those great depositories of art, the Uffizi Gal- 
lery and the Pitti Palace, are perhaps unequalled, having 
within their walls over a thousand paintings, each one of 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 1 97 

which is meritorious, and many of which are hardly sur- 
passed, if they are equalled. Raphael, Murillo, Titian, 
Michael Angelo, Paul Veronese, Velasquez, and like mas- 
ters of art are here fully represented. To stand before 
canvas which the world has crowned with undivided ap- 
proval, to realize that the finest copies which we have 
seen are but faint shadows of the originals, is a privilege 
which makes us forget all petty annoyances, all cost of 
time and money in the accomplishment. One pauses with 
more than ordinary curiosity before the Madonna della 
Seggiola, one of the most famous pictures of Raphael, 
and indeed of all art. We fancy that we have seen it 
faithfully reproduced, but a glance at the original con- 
vinces us that, like the Beatrice Cenci, it cannot be copied, 
but only imitated. 

The Uffizi and Pitti Palaces are connected, and really 
form but one great gallery of art. In the Uffizi division 
is what is known as the Tribune, — the throne room of 
art, where stands "the statue that enchants the world," — 
the Venus de Medici, — dividing its homage with that 
equally exquisite painting, Titian's recumbent Venus, 
declared to be the masterpiece of color. These two works 
are surrounded by others almost as perfect, and which in 
the eyes of trained artists share their loyalty. No wonder 
the student of art selects Florence as a place of residence, 
where he can visit as often as he pleases such models, with- 
out cost, works which cannot fail to inspire artistic genius 
in whomsoever the germs exist. But not alone those who 
wield the pencil and the chisel come hither to seek a con- 
genial home. The soft beauty of the scenery, the delight- 
ful climate, and the poetic associations have tempted artists 
and literary people in other lines to pitch their tents here- 



198 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

abouts. Mario, the great tenor, once lived yonder ; in 
that villa on the sloping hillside, Taglioni once made her 
home ; Walter Savage Landor sheltered his gray hairs 
in this cottage home overlooking the valley of the Arno, 
and died here. This old church not far away is that of St. 
Miniato al Monte, nearly ten centuries in age, famous for 
its carved work and paintings. 

The common people of Florence seem actuated by a 
universal spirit of industry ; and as to beggars, we see none 
upon its streets — a fact worthy of note in Italy. The 
women fruit-dealers on the corners of the streets are busy 
with their needles, while awaiting customers ; the flower- 
girls are equally industrious, sitting beside their fragrant 
wares ; the girl who opens the gate for us and guides us 
to the tombs of Mrs. Browning and Theodore Parker, 
in the city burial grounds, knits steadily as she walks. 
The public park is called the Cascine, and lies along the 
banks of the Arno ; in some respects it is more attractive 
than most of such resorts in Europe, being finely wooded, 
and consequently presenting shady drives, and quiet rural 
retreats for pedestrians. It is the favorite resort of all 
classes who have leisure in the after part of the day, and 
is enlivened three or four times each week by the presence 
of a military band, which discourses the choicest music to 
ears ever ready for this sort of entertainment : no people 
are more fond of music than the Italians. 

The Arno, which divides the city into two unequal parts, 
is only a very small stream during half the year ; but when 
the snow melts upon the mountains, or the rainy season 
sets in, it then becomes a broad, swift river, conveying a 
great volume of water. It is crossed by six bridges, not 
far apart, besides two suspension bridges at the extremi- 



yOURNEYlMGS IN MANY LANDS. I99 

ties of the city. The Ponte Vecchio is nearest the Pitti 
and Uffizi galleries, and is covered by curious little shops. 
We must not fail to visit the house where Dante was born, 
and also the house of Michael Angelo. In this latter are 
shown many of the personal belongings of the great artist 
and master, and the room where he studied and painted, 
containing numerous articles of which he made daily use. 
The last representative of his family bequeathed the whole 
priceless treasure to the city of Florence. 

There is a lovely and celebrated park situated back of 
the Palazzo Pitti which is open to the public, and known 
as the Boboli Gardens. The grounds are quite spacious, 
being over a mile in circumference, divided into shady 
walks invitingly retired, shaded by thrifty laurels and 
cypresses, being also ornamented with some fine marble 
statues, and many gracefully carved vases. Among the 
statues are four by Michael Angelo, upon which he is said 
to have been at work when he died. 



FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XIII. 

VENICE is a genuine surprise to the stranger. No 
matter what idea he may have formed concerning it, 
he can hardly have approximated to the truth. It is unique, 
mystical, poetic, constantly appealing in some new form to 
the imagination, and often more than fulfilling expectation. 
The people, institutions, buildings, history — all are peculiar. 
Her statesmen, artisans, merchants, and sailors have been 
the first in Europe, while for over twelve hundred years 
she has gone on creating a history as remarkable as is her 
physical formation. No city fills a more prominent page 
in the records of the Middle Ages, or is more enshrined in 
romance and poetry. It is a city of a hundred thousand 
inhabitants, and yet what comparative stillness reigns over 
all, solemn and strange especially to the newly arrived 
traveller. There is no rattling of wheels, no tramp of 
horses' feet upon the streets ; wheels and horses are un- 
known ; only the gondola serves as a mode of conveyance, 
and the noiseless canals take the place of streets. The 
gondola is nowhere else seen save on these canals and 
lagoons (shallow bays). It is of all modes of transportation 
the most luxurious. The soft cushions, the gliding motion, 
the graceful oarsmen, who row in a standing position, the 
marble palaces between which we float in a dreamy state, 
harmonize so admirably, that the sense of completeness is 
perfect. The Grand Canal, two hundred feet wide, is the 
Broadway, or popular boulevard, of Venice, and over this 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 201 

glide the innumerable gondolas and boats of light traffic, 
with a quiet panoramic effect, which we watch curiously 
from our overhanging balcony. This main artery of the 
city is lined with palaces and noble marble edifices nearly 
the whole of its length of two miles. Some of these, to 
be sure, are crumbling and deserted, with the word decay 
written in their aspect, but even in their moss-grown and 
neglected condition they are intensely interesting. 

The city is built upon one hundred and seventeen islands, 
separated by a hundred and fifty canals, and as the local 
guides will tell us, has three hundred and sixty-five bridges, 
mostly of stone, — "that is; one for every day in the year;" 
but there are, in fact, twenty more bridges to add to this 
aggregate. Most of the dwellings rise immediately out of 
the water, and one passes out of the gondolas on to marble 
steps to enter them. Altogether Venice is a little over 
seven miles in circumference. 

As we sit floating in our gondola just off the Piazzetta 
of St. Mark, the moon comes up above the waters of the 
Adriatic and hangs serenely over the lagoons. No pen 
can justly describe such a sight — only a Claude Lor- 
raine could paint it. Glancing gondolas on their noiseless 
track cut the silvery ripples ; a sweet contralto voice, with 
guitar accompaniment, salutes the ear ; stately palaces cast 
long, mysterious shadows upon the water; the Bridge of 
Sighs arches the canal between the palace and prison close 
at hand; oddly-rigged craft from the far East float lazily 
at anchor in the open harbor; the domes of lofty churches 
are outlined against the dark blue sky ; while the proud 
columns of St. Mark and St. Theodore stand like sentinels 
at the water's edge. It seems, altogether, like some well- 
prepared theatrical scene upon the stage, on which the 



202 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

curtain will presently fall, shutting out everything from 
view. 

The broad outline of the history of this long-lived re- 
public is familiar to most of us. Many of its details have 
been enshrined by Byron, who, without assuming the dig- 
nity of historical record, has taught us in poetic form. 
The names of Dandolo, Faliero, and the two Foscari are 
familiar to all cultured people. The close of the fifteenth 
century may be designated as the culminating point of the 
glory of Venice, it being then the grand focus of European 
commerce, and twice as populous as it is to-day. At that 
time it possessed three hundred sea-going vessels and forty- 
five naval galleys, with which it maintained sway over the 
Mediterranean Sea. With the commencement of the six- 
teenth century her glory began gradually to fade until she 
ceased to maintain a prominent position among the powers. 
In art, Venice alv/ays occupied a first position, and was 
celebrated for the brilliancy of the coloring which charac- 
terizes the Venetian school. 

Though fallen in commercial glory, Venice still stands 
without a rival. Where else can be found a city composed 
of over seventy islands } Is there another city where 
architects, sculptors, painters, and workers in mosaic de- 
voted their lives to the purpose of decorating and beauti- 
fying their native place ? No capital, even in Italy, is richer 
in splendid and antique churches, in superbly decorated 
palaces, and with the exception of Rome and Florence, no 
city has more invaluable art treasures. Here the works of 
Guido, Paul Veronese, Titian, Bonifacio, Giordano, and 
Tintoretto especially abound. The Venetian school of 
painting maintains precedence even in our day. In the 
Doge's Palace, built many hundred years ago, the visitor 




Page 200. 



SCENE ON THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 203 

will find paintings and sculpture which he can never for- 
get, and among them Tintoretto's Paradise, said to be the 
largest oil painting extant by a great master. It contains 
an army of figures, and would seem to have required a life- 
time to produce. 

The Piazza of St. Mark is the centre of attraction. How 
strange, and yet how familiar everything seems to us here ! 
We require no guide to point out the remarkable monuments. 
We do not fail to recognize at a glance the tall masts from 
which the banners of the republic floated in triumph, when 
the carrier pigeons brought news that " blind old Dandolo 
had captured Constantinople ! " We recognize the lofty 
Campanile, the sumptuous palace of the Doges, and the 
gorgeous front of the Cathedral over-topped by its grace- 
ful dom.es, bristhng with innumerable pinnacles. Above 
the portals of St. Mark we gaze upon the celebrated bronze 
horses which Napoleon I. stole and transported to Paris, 
but which the Emperor Francis restored to Venice. It is 
not the first time these historic horses of Lysippus have 
been stolen, these monuments of the departed glory of 
Chios and Constantinople — of Venice and Napoleon. 

In many respects the Cathedral of San Marco is the 
most remarkable church in existence, while its ornamenta- 
tion is rich to excess. For good architectural effect it 
stands too low, the present grade of the surrounding square 
being some fifteen inches or more above its mosaic pavement. 
The pillars and ornaments are too crowded ; having been 
brought hither from other and historic lands, there is a 
want of harmony in the aggregation. Nearly a thousand 
years old, it has an indescribable aspect of faded and tar- 
nished splendor, and yet it presents an attractive whole 
quite unequalled. It combines Saracenic profusion with 



204 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Christian emblems, v/eaving in porphyries from Egypt, 
pillars from St. Sophia, altar pieces from Acre, and a forest 
of Grecian columns. Especially is this church rich in 
mosaics — those colors that never fade. There is a sense of 
solemn gloom pervading the place, the dim light struggling 
through the painted windows being only sufficient to give 
the whole a weird aspect, in its over-decorated aisles. Some 
idea may be formed of the elaborate ornamentation of 
the Cathedral from the fact that it contains over forty 
thousand square feet of mosaic work ! The vaulting con- 
sists entirely of mosaic, representing scenes in the Old 
Testament, beginning with the story of the creation, and 
followed by scenes from the New Testament. As we walk 
about the church, the floor beneath our feet is found quite 
uneven from the slow settlement of ages. Inside and out 
the structure is ornamented by over five hundred columns 
of marble, the capitals of which present a fantastic variety 
of styles true to no country or order, but the whole is, 
nevertheless, a grand example of barbaric splendor. 

Just opposite the entrance to the Church of San Marco 
stands the lofty Campanile, reaching to a height of three 
hundred feet, and which was over two hundred years in 
building. A view from its summit is one of the sights 
not to be missed in this city, as it affords not only 
a splendid picture of Venice itself, but the city and 
lagoons lie mapped out before the eye in perfection of 
detail, while in the distance are seen the Adriatic, the 
Alpine ranges, and the Istrian Mountains. The Cam.pa- 
nile is ascended by a winding Avay in place of steps, and 
there is a legend that Napoleon rode his horse to the top, 
a feat vv'hich is certainly possible. In this lofty tower 
Galileo prosecuted his scientific experiments. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 205 

Petrarch wrote that Venice was the home of justice and 
equity, refuge of the good ; rich in gold, but richer in renown ; 
built on marble, but founded on the surer foundation of a 
city worthy of veneration and glory. But this is no longer 
the Venice he described ; no longer the city of grasping 
and successful ambition, of proud and boastful princes. 
It has become what pride, ostentation, and luxury in time 
must always lead to. It presents to-day a fallen aspect — 
one of grandeur in rags. No argosies are bound to foreign 
ports, no princely merchants meet on the Rialto ; that 
famous bridge is now occupied on either side by Jews' 
shops of a very humble character ; and yet do not let us 
seem to detract from the great interest that overlies all 
drawbacks as regards the Venice even of the present hour. 

The Academy of Fine Arts is reached by crossing the 
Grand Canal, over the modern iron bridge, which, with 
that of the Rialto, a noble span of a single arch, built of 
white marble, forms the only means of crossing the great 
water-way, except by gondola. This remarkable gallery 
contains almost exclusively works by Venetian artists. 
Here we find a remarkable representation of the "Sup- 
per of Cana," which is nearly as large as the " Para- 
dise." It is considered by competent critics, to be one 
of the finest pieces of coloring in existence. Here we 
have some of Titian's best productions, and those of many 
Italian artists whose pictures are not to be found elsewhere. 
The gallery, like all of the famous ones of Europe, is free 
to every one, either for simple study, or for copying. This 
is the collection which Napoleon I. said he would give a 
nation's ransom to possess. On the way to the Academy 
the guide points out the Barberigo Palace, in which Titian 
lived and died. 



206 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The Doge's Palace is full of historic interest. We wan- 
der with mingled feelings through its various apartments, 
visiting the halls of the Council of Ten, and the still more 
tragic chambers of the Council of Three. Many secret 
passages are threaded ; we cross the Bridge of Sighs, and 
descend into the dungeons in which Faliero, Foscari, and 
other famous prisoners are said to have been incarcerated. 
These mediaeval dungeons are wretched beyond belief, 
and how human beings could live and breathe in such 
places is the marvel of every one who visits them in 
our day. Here we are shown the apartment where the 
condemned prisoners were secretly strangled, and the 
arched windows by which their bodies were launched into 
boats on the canal, to be borne away, and sunk in the 
distant lagoons. Trial, sentence, fate, — all in secret, and 
this was done under the semblance of justice and a repub- 
lican form of government. 

The church of the Frari, whither we will next turn 
our steps, is in an American's estimation quite as much 
of a museum as a church. It is the Westminster Abbey 
of Venice, and is crowded with the monuments of doges, 
statesmen, artists, philosophers, and more especially is 
ornamented in a most striking manner by the tombs of 
Titian and Canova. These elaborate marble structures 
face each other from opposite sides of the church — monu- 
ments raised in memory of rarest genius, and which for 
richness of design and completeness of finish exceed any- 
thing of the sort in Italy. 

In the square of St. Mark we have an opportunity for 
studying the masses, the well-to-do classes, but not the 
refined and cultured ; these maintain a certain dignified 
exclusiveness. The uniforms of the police, each one of 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 207 

whom is bedizened equal to a militia general, are a stand- 
ing caricature. One notes the many Jews among the 
throng ; here a turbaned Turk sits before a cafe smoking 
his pipe, and near by a handsome Greek, with his red fez, 
smokes a cigar. There are Orientals of all types, with 
jaunty Englishmen, and gay parties of Americans. 

We will now pass on to Milan, once considered the second 
city of Italy in importance, but it was totally destroyed in 
1 162 by Barbarossa, and we therefore see a comparatively 
modern capital. In the olden time it was filled with tem- 
ples, baths, amphitheatres, circuses, and all the monu- 
ments common to great Italian cities. Seven hundred 
years and more have elapsed since its destruction, during 
which it rapidly sprang into life again as the capital of 
Lombardy, and is still a growing metropolis. True, it can 
offer no such attractions to the traveller as abound in 
Naples, Rome, and Florence, though there are some art 
treasures here which are unique. Were it not that the 
city is so near to Lakes Como and Maggiore, and in pos- 
session of half a hundred remarkable pictures, with a score 
of choice original pieces of sculpture, together with its 
wonderful cathedral, the traveller would hardly care to 
pass more than a day in Milan. The present population is 
about two hundred and forty thousand. It is thrifty and 
devoted more to successful branches of business than are 
the cities of Southern Italy. 

The Milan Cathedral is regarded as one of the wonders 
of the world, being also next to the cathedral at Seville 
and St. Peter's at Rome, the largest church in Europe, 
though this matter of size is of insignificant consideration 
compared with its other marvels. The interior is nearly 
five hundred feet in length and but a fraction less than 



208 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

two hundred in width, while the dome is over two hundred 
feet in height. Its loftiest tower is over three hundred 
and sixty feet above the ground ; there are a hundred pin- 
nacles in all, and no less than four thousand five hundred 
marble statues ornament the exterior. The interior con- 
sists of a nave with double aisles, and is supported by 
fifty-two pillars, each fifteen feet in diameter, the summits 
of which are decked with canopied niches presenting 
statues in place of the customary capitals. The pavement 
is finished in marble and mosaic. The edifice was in 
course of construction for five hundred years, and to look 
at it one would hardly suppose there was white marble 
enough in Europe to furnish the raw material of which it 
is built. The principal part of the work has been per- 
formed during the last hundred years. 

One mounts nearly five hundred stone steps to reach the 
summit of the cathedral, where we stand in the highest 
pinnacle, nearly four hundred feet from the street. Far 
below lies the city, the dwellings and churches resembling 
toy-houses, while the people moving about in the thorough- 
fares assume pigmy proportions, horses looking like exag- 
gerated insects. We gaze about in dizzy wonder, and are 
half inclined to believe it all a trick of the imagination. 
After the first surprise is over, the true aspect gradually 
dawns upon the stranger, and the labor of ascending those 
tedious steps is forgotten. The distant view is particu- 
larly fine ; the green and fertile plains of Lombardy 
stretching away from the city walls in all directions until 
they meet the foot-hills of the Alpine range, or mingle 
with the horizon towards the shores of the Adriatic. 
Mont Blanc, Mont Cenis, Mont St. Bernard, the Simplon 
Pass, the Bernese Oberland rano'e, and further to the 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 209 

northeast the long range of the Tyrolean Alps, are recog- 
nized with their white snow-caps glittering in the bright 
sunlight. The forest of pinnacles beneath our feet, mingled 
with a labyrinth of ornamented spires, statues, flying but- 
tresses, and Gothic fretwork, piled all about the roof, is seen 
through a gauze-like veil of golden mist. 

Milan has several other churches more or less interest- 
ing, but the visitor rarely passes much time in examining 
them. No traveller should fail, however, to visit the Brera 
Palace, the one gallery of art in this city. It was formerly 
a Jesuit college, but is now used for a public school, 
with the title of Palace of Arts and Sciences, forming 
a most extensive academy, containing paintings, statu- 
ary, and a comprehensive library of nearly two hundred 
thousand volumes. There is also attached a fine botanical 
garden, exhibiting many rare and beautiful exotics as well 
as native plants. In the gallery of paintings the visitor is 
sure to single out for appreciation a canvas, by Guercino, 
representing Abraham banishing Hagar and her child. 
The tearful face of the deserted one, with its wonderful 
expression, tells the whole story of her misery. This pic- 
ture is worthy of all the enthusiastic praise so liberally 
bestowed by competent critics. 

No picture is better known than Leonardo da Vinci's 
" Last Supper," millions of copies of which have been 
circulated in engravings, oil paintings, and by photogra- 
phy. We find the original in the Dominican monastery, 
where the artist painted it upon the bare wall or masonry 
of a lofty dining-hall. It is still perfect and distinct, 
though not so bright as it would have been had it been 
executed upon canvas. Da Vinci was years in perfecting 
it, and justly considered it to be the best work of his artis- 



2IO FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL: OR, 

tic life. The moment chosen for dehneation is that when 
Christ utters the words, " One of you shall betray me ! " 
The artist said that he meditated for two years how best 
to portray upon a human face the workings of the perfidi- 
ous heart of Judas, and ended at last by taking for his 
model the prior of this very monastery, who was well 
known to be his bitterest enemy! The likeness at the 
period of its production was unmistakable, and thus per- 
petuated the scandal. 

We must not fail to make an excursion from Milan to 
Pavia, one of the oldest of Itahan cities. It lies on the 
left bank of the Ticino River, and was in the olden times 
the residence of the Lombard kings, who did not fail to 
beautify and improve it in their day to such an extent that 
it was known all over Europe as the " City of a Hundred 
Towers," many of which are extant and in excellent 
preservation. Though the finger of time has pressed 
heavily upon it, and its ancient glory has departed, still 
Pavia has a population of over thirty thousand, and lays 
claim to no inconsiderable importance. If it were not 
a little off the usual track of travellers, we should hear 
much more of its associations. The university founded 
here by Charlemagne, over a thousand years ago, is still 
prosperous ; and the famous church of San Michael, 
erected at even an earlier period, is still an object 
of profound interest. As we wander about the quaint 
streets the impress of antiquity is upon everything that 
meets the eye. Just north of the city, about a league 
from the walls, is the Certosa, one of the most splendid 
monasteries in Europe, founded about five hundred years 
since. It is absolutely crowded witii fine paintings, stat- 
uary, mosaics, and rich art ornamentation. Private pal- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21 I 

aces abound, though now largely diverted from their 
original purposes. There are also theatres, libraries, mu- 
seums, gymnasiums, still thriving after a moderate fashion. 
Pavia looks backward to her past glories rather than for- 
ward to new hopes. Sacked by Hannibal, burned by the 
Huns, conquered and possessed by the Romans, won 
by the Goths and Lombards, it was long the capital of 
what was then known as the kingdom of Italy. Then 
came a period of fierce civil wars, when its history merged 
in that of the conquerors of Lombardy. Taken and lost 
by the French so late as 1796, it was stormed and pillaged 
by Napoleon, but once more came into the possession of 
Austria, until it finally found refuge in the bosom of 
United Italy. The famous battle of Pavia, which oc- 
curred in 1525, when Francis I. was taken prisoner, was 
fought close to the Certosa. 

Our next objective point is Vienna, and we take the 
route through Innspruck, the capital of the Tyrol, which 
is most charmingly situated in the valley of the Inn just 
where it joins the Sill. The town is about two thousand 
feet above sea-level, and is surrounded by mountains six 
and eight thousand feet in height. It derives its name from 
the bridge which here crosses the river — Inn's Briicke 
(that is, the Inn's Bridge). We enter Austria through the 
Brenner Pass, and after a long Alpine journey of three or 
four hundred miles are very glad to pause here both for 
rest and observation. There must be about twenty thou- 
sand inhabitants, but the town seems almost solemnly 
silent. At certain periods of the year, known as "the 
season," doubtless its two or three large hotels are plenti- 
fully supplied with guests. Historical associations are not 
wanting ; among them is the Franciscan church of Inns- 



212 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

pruck, containing tlie elaborate and costly monument to 
the Emperor Maximilian I., which, though constructed 
by order of the monarch himself, does not contain his 
remains. The structure consists of a marble sarcophagus 
supporting the emperor's effigy in bronze in a kneeling 
position, while on the other side of the aisle are rows of 
monumental bronze figures, twenty-eight in number, repre- 
senting various historic characters. The mention of this 
unique group in the old church of Innspruck, by the poet 
Longfellow, will be remembered. 

The Schloss Ambras is of considerable interest, having 
been the favorite home of the Archduke Ferdinand II. 
The view from its battlements is worth}^ of a pilgrimage to 
enjoy. Innspruck looks like a toy-village, so far below, upon 
the plain. The broad streets of the new portion of the 
town lie spread out as upon a map. The three handsome 
bridges give variety to the scene. The central one, as the 
guide will tell us, was the scene of a fierce battle, in 1809, 
between the Bavarians and the Tyrolese. The former 
could not withstand the superior marksmanship of these 
chamois-hunters, who picked off the men at the cannon as 
fast as they came into action, until the Bavarians fled in 
despair, abandoning their guns. 

On resuming our journey towards Vienna, we pass up 
the constantly narrowing valley of the Inn, through a range 
of mountain scenery, covered with snow, and grand beyond 
description, where Alp is piled upon Alp, until all distinctive 
outline is lost in the clouds which envelop them. Now and 
then we see a rude but picturesque chamois huntsman strug- 
gling up the mountain side in search of the special game 
AA^hich is growing annually scarcer and scarcer. There is a 
wild interest which actuates the chamois-hunter, amount- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21 3 

ing to fanaticism. The country is very sparsely inhabited, 
but we occasionally come upon a cluster of picturesque 
habitations, quite theatrical in effect, the counterpart of 
the familiar pictures and photographs we see in America. 
By and by, after a long day of travel, we reach Salzburg, 
in the Noric Alps. 

Salzburg was the birthplace of Mozart, and is still a mu- 
sical place, that branch of the fine arts being universally 
cultivated among the more refined class of inhabitants. 
There are several public monuments commemorative of 
the great composer, who played his own compositions 
before the public here at the age of five years ! The mas- 
sive wall which once surrounded the place is now mostly 
dismantled, and could only have been of use in the Middle 
Ages, at which time Salzburg was probably in its greatest 
state of prosperity. The manufacture of Majolica ware 
has been a specialty here for a couple of centuries or more, 
and it has a reputation for the production of fine fancy 
leather goods. Its connection by rail with Vienna, Mu- 
nich, and Innspruck insures it considerable trade, but still 
there is a sleepiness about the place which is almost con- 
tagious. It was probably different when the archbishops 
held court here, at a period when those high functionaries 
combined the dignity of princes of the Empire with their 
ecclesiastical rank. It was at this period that the town 
received its few public ornaments, and the half-dozen fine 
public edifices, still to be seen, were erected. 

In the absence of statistics one would say there was a 
population of fifteen thousand. Some of the street scenes 
are peculiar. We see single cows and oxen harnessed and 
worked like horses, not in shafts, but beside a long pole. 
The entire absence of donkeys, so numerous elsewhere in 



214 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Europe, is quite noticeable. The women surprise us by 
their large size and apparent physical strength — quite a 
necessary possession, since they seem to perform the larger 
portion of the heavy work, while their lazy husbands are 
engaged in pipe-smoking and beer-drinking. We see girls 
and dogs harnessed together into milk and vegetable carts, 
which they draw through the streets at early morning, to 
deliver the required articles to the consumers. When the 
little team arrives before a customer's door, the girl drops 
her harness, measures out and delivers the milk or vegeta- 
bles, while the dog waits patiently. 

There is no special beauty observable among the female 
population. The dark eyes and hair with the lovely faces 
of the South are left behind, as well as the soft, musical 
cadence of voice which so charms the ear in Italy. German 
is not a musical tongue. It is a vigorous language, but 
not a harmonious one in speech. Doubtless there are 
pretty blonde Marguerites — like Goethe's heroine — hid- 
den away somewhere among the domestic circles of Salz- 
burg, but their long golden braids of hair and their fair, 
rose-tinted complexions are not often seen in public. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21 5 



CHAPTER XIV. 

UNDOUBTEDLY Vienna is the finest city on the Euro- 
pean continent next to Paris, and it is often called the 
Northern Paris. It resembles the French capital both in 
its social life and its architecture. The style of the modern 
buildings is very attractive, displaying great richness and 
beauty of outline, while the charming perfection of detail 
is by no means neglected. At least one-quarter of Vienna 
is new, presenting broad streets lined with noble edifices. 
The Ring Strasse is a notable example of this, being an 
elegant avenue, which takes the place of the old city 
wall that once surrounded the town, but which it has 
long since outgrown; This metropolis now contains con- 
siderably over a milhon inhabitants. It is situated upon 
an arm of the Danube where it is joined by the two small 
streams known as the Wien and the Alster, from the 
former of which the city takes its name. Vienna is not 
lacking in antiquity. It was renowned in Roman times 
two thousand years ago, and there is an ancient aspect 
quite unmistakable about its western portion in the vicinity 
of the Emperor's palace. This imperial assemblage of 
buildings, with the broad court about which they stand, 
presents no claim whatever to architectural beauty, being 
exceedingly heavy and substantial. 

One of the principal attractions of the city is its numer- 
ous parks, squares, and breathing-spots. Above all else in 
this regard is the Prater, situated on the verge of the city, 



2l6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

forming one of the most extensive pleasure drives or parks 
connected with any European capital. It was in this 
park that the famous exhibition buildings were erected, 
covering twelve or fifteen acres of ground ; but the Prater 
could afford room for fifty such structures. All the fash- 
ionable citizens, including the royal family, come here 
for the enjoyment of their afternoon drive or horseback 
ride. The sight presented on these occasions is one of the 
very gayest conceivable, recalling the brilliancy of the 
Chiaja of Naples, the Maiden of Calcutta, or the Champs 
Elysees of Paris. One does not see even in Hyde Park, 
London, more elegant vehicles and horses, or more strik- 
ing liveries than on the Prater at Vienna. Equestrianism 
is the favorite mode of exercise here, both with ladies and 
gentlemen, and the Austrians are better horsemen and 
horsewomen than the English. Cavalry officers in uniform, 
as well as representatives of other arms of the service, add 
much to the.brilliancy of this park during the popular hour. 
It is divided into a broad driveway, a well-kept equestrian 
track, and smooth walks devoted exclusively to pedestrians. 
For spaciousness as well as attractive gayety, the Prater 
is scarcely equalled — certainly not surpassed — by any 
other European driveway. 

There are two noble palaces at Vienna which must not 
be forgotten ; namely, the Upper and Lower Belvedere. 
They are intimately connected, though divided by a large 
and splendid garden, and together form an art collection 
and museum combined, only second to the Uffizi and Pitti 
palaces at Florence, and the galleries of Paris and Rome. 
A simple list of the pictures to be found here would cover 
many pages in print, embracing the names of such art- 
ists as Salvator Rosa, Giorgone, Bassano, Perugino, Carlo 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21/ 

Dolce, Guido Reni, Rembrandt, Andrea del Sarto, Van 
Dyck, etc. All of these paintings are high in artistic 
merit ; many of them are admirable, and all are beyond 
price in money. Various schools are represented in the 
galleries, and there are among the rest a hundred or so of 
modern pictures ; but the majority are by the old masters 
or their immediate pupils. The Flemish, Dutch, and 
Spanish schools are especially well represented. The vis- 
itor will find in the Lower Belvedere a marvellous collec- 
tion of antiquities, perhaps the most curious to be seen in 
Europe. Among other departments of interest is one in 
which there are over a hundred warriors of life size clad in 
complete armor, most of whom are mounted on mail-clad 
horses, all confronting the visitor, with visor down and 
lance in rest. All of these effigies are designed to be like- 
nesses, and each is labelled with the name of the warrior- 
king, emperor, or great general he represents, while we have 
before us the real armor and weapons which he bore in 
actual life. Here hangs the tattered banner which was car- 
ried through the Crusades, and returned by the hand of the 
Archduke Ferdinand, beside hundreds of similar tokens. 

The Cathedral of St. Stephens, between five and six 
hundred years of age, is of very great interest, and forms a 
rare example of pure Gothic. The Imperial Library con- 
tains over three hundred thousand volumes. Vienna has 
all the usual Christian charitable institutions, schools, and 
progressive organizations of a great city of the nineteenth 
century. 

From Vienna we continue our journey to Prague, the 
capital of Bohemia, a cjuaint old city, founded in 1722 by 
the Duchess Libussa, and which has to-day nearly sixty 
thousand inhabitants. It is crowded with historical monu- 



2l8 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ments, ancient churches, and queer old chapels, some of 
which are ornamented by frescoes hardly rivalled by the 
finest at Rome and Florence. One is here shown under- 
ground dungeons as terrible as those of Venice, and to 
which historic associations lend their special interest. It 
would seem that human beings could hardly exist in such 
holes for a month, and yet in some of these, prisoners are 
known to have lingered miserably for years. Prague was 
remarkable for its institutions of learning and its scientific 
societies. The university, founded by Charles IV. in 1348, 
had at one time a hundred professors and three thousand 
students. This university enjoyed a world-wide reputa- 
tion, but all this has passed away. There are two or three 
large libraries, a museum of natural history, a school for 
the blind, and several public hospitals. We find here some 
beautiful specimens of glass manufacture, for which Bo- 
hemia has long been celebrated, though she is now rivalled 
in this line by both England and America. 

Prague has had more than its share of the calamities of 
war, having been besieged and taken six times before the 
year 1249. I^"' ^^'^ ^^'^^ of the Hussites it was taken, 
burned, plundered, and sacked with barbarous ferocity. 
The Thirty Years' War began and ended within its walls, 
and during its progress the city was three times in posses- 
sion of the enemy. In 1620 the battle was fought just 
outside of the city in which Frederick V. was conquered, 
and after which he was deposed. During the Seven Years' 
War it fell into the hands of different victors, and in 1744 
capitulated to Frederick the Great of Prussia. Indeed, 
until within the last half-century Prague and its environs 
may be said to have been little better than a constant bat- 
tle-field. Seen from an elevated position the city presents 



yOURiVEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 219 

a very picturesque aspect. A fine view may be had of it 
from either of the bridges which cross the Moldau, but a 
more satisfactory one is to be had from the Belvedere, a 
large public garden situated on an eminence just outside 
the city proper. This garden forms a beautiful park and 
is a favorite drive with the citizens. One of the bridges is 
called the Karlsbriicke (Charles Bridge) ; the other is the 
Suspension Bridge, also known as Emperor Francis's 
Bridge. At the end of the latter is the memorial which 
commemorates the five hundreth anniversary of the found- 
ing of the university. The niches on either side are filled 
with statues representing the several sciences, added to 
which are statues of two archbishops. The Charles Bridge, 
built of stone over five hundred years ago, is the most 
interesting of the two bridges, and has its two extrem- 
ities protected by lofty towers. The arches of the bridge 
are ornamented with groups of saints numbering thirty life- 
size figures. It is not surprising that Prague appears in 
decay ; but as it is a sort of half-way place between Dres- 
den and Vienna, it is insured a certain amount of business 
from travellers of all nations. 

One prominent feature of Dresden, the capital of Sax- 
ony, which strikes the stranger, is that the military appear 
in such large numbers everywhere, in the streets, the 
hotels, in the shops and parks. The expense and waste of 
supporting such large numbers of soldiers is enormous. 
The student of art, music, and history finds a rich field for 
educational purposes here, where there are so many choice 
collections of antiquities, museums, and remarkable paint- 
ings. The Zwinger Museum contains among other treas- 
ures a collection of three hundred and sixty thousand 
engraved plates, all of great value. Art treasures and 



220 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

libraries are freely open to the public, as in all parts of 
Europe. Dresden is a busy city, commanding a large 
trade, and containing over a quarter of a million inhabi- 
tants. Gold and silver manufactures form a large share of 
the industry ; artificial flowers, china ware, and paper 
hangings also, constitute a large portion of its extensive 
exports. The Royal Public Library contains four hundred 
thousand volumes, and is particularly rich in the several 
departments of literature, history, and classical antiquity. 
There are many volumes in this Dresden library which 
are not to be found elsewhere in Europe, and learned men 
come thousands of miles to consult them. 

The Green Vaults, so called from the style of the origi- 
nal decorations, are a portion of the Royal Palace, and 
contain an extraordinarily valuable collection, belonging to 
the State, consisting of works of art, jewels, royal regalia, 
etc., classified in eight connected saloons. One sees here a 
certain green stone, a most brilliant gem, esteemed of great 
value. Whether it be really a diamond or an emerald, it is 
intrinsically of equal worth. The weight of this rare gem 
is forty carets. The Grosse Garten is the favorite public 
park of the city, containing about three hundred acres of 
land. It is very beautifully laid out in ornamental sec- 
tions, drives, walks, and groves. The historical associa- 
tions about this park are interesting, it being the spot 
where the French and Prussians more than once encoun- 
tered each other in battle, the last time in 1813. 

The most attractive portion of this really fine city is the 
Theatre Platz, about which lie the principal objects of 
interest to the traveller. Here are situated the Royal 
Palace, the Zwinger with its choice collections, and the 
theatre. The old bridge over the Elbe is a substantial 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 221 

stone structure. The palace forms a large square of spa- 
cious edifices surmounted by a tower nearly four hundred 
feet high. The principal picture-gallery of Dresden is the 
finest in Germany, and contains between three and four 
thousand admirable examples of high art, — the work of 
such artists as Raphael, Holbein, Corregio, Albert Diirer, 
Rubens, Giotto, Van Dyck, and other masters already 
named in these pages. Among them all the favorite, as 
generally conceded, is Raphael's Madonna di' San Sisto, 
believed to be one of the last and best examples produced 
by this great master. We are sure to find a goodly num- 
ber of Americans residing in this European capital, gath- 
ered here for educational purposes in art, literature, and 
music. 

Berlin, the capital of Prussia, contains about a million 
inhabitants, and is one of the finest cities of Europe. The 
principal street is the Unter den Linden, and most of the 
objects of interest centre here between the Royal Palace 
and the Brandenburg Gate. This thoroughfare is planted 
in its centre with four rows of trees, having a capacious 
pedestrian section, an equestrian road, and two driveways, 
one on each side of the broad street. It resembles Com- 
monwealth Avenue, Boston, both in size and design, 
though the architecture of the American street is far 
superior to the German. The Unter den Linden is a hun- 
dred and ninety-six feet wide, and receives its name from 
the double avenue of linden trees extending through the 
centre. The street is flanked with fine buildings, a few 
hotels, three palaces, a museum, a school of art, public 
library, etc. At one end is the famous bronze statue of 
Frederick the Great. The Brandenburg Gate, where the 
Linden commences, forms the entrance to the city from 



222 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the Thiergarten, and is a sort of triumphal arch, erected 
in 1789. It is seventy feet in height, and two hundred 
in width, being modelled after the entrance in the gate- 
way of the temple of the Parthenon at Athens. It affords 
five passage-ways through its great width. 

This proud capital, six hundred years ago, was only of 
small importance, since when it has grown to its pres- 
ent mammoth proportions. Frederick William made it his 
home and started its most important structures. Frederick 
I. added to it, and so it has been improved by one ruler after 
another until it has become one of the most important 
political and commercial centres in Europe. It is divided 
by the river Spree, which at this point is about two hun- 
dred feet in width, and communicates with the Oder and 
the Baltic by canal. No continental city except Vienna 
has grown so rapidly during the last half-century. The 
late emperor did little or nothing to beautify the capital, 
whose growth has been mostly of a normal character, 
greatly retarded by a devotion to military purposes. 

The Unter den Linden is the charm of Berlin, so bright, 
shaded, and retired, as it were, in the very midst of outer 
noise and bustle. At nearly all hours of the day the long 
lines of benches are crowded by laughing, flaxen-haired 
children, attended by gayly dressed nurses, the groups they 
form contrasting with the rude struggle of business life 
going on so close at hand. A regiment of soldiers is pass- 
ing as we gaze upon the scene, accompanied by a full band, 
their helmets and bright arms glittering in the sunlight ; 
the vehicles rattle past on both sides of the m.all ; here 
and there is seen an open official carriage with liveried ser- 
vants and outriders; well-mounted army officers pass at a 
hand-gallop on the equestrian division of the street, salut- 



yoURNEYlNGS IN MANY LANDS. 223 

ing right and left ; dogs and women harnessed together to 
small carts wind in and out among the throng, while girls 
and boys with huge baskets strapped to their backs, con- 
taining merchandise, mingle in the scene. 

The Thiergarten is the grand park of Berlin, situated 
along the banks of the Spree ; it is two miles long by a 
mile in width, with an abundance of noble trees, well-kept 
drives, and clear, picturesque lakes. The ponds and canals 
intersecting this park afford a choice resort for the lovers 
of skating in winter. In the southwest corner of the 
Thiergarten is the famous zoological garden of Berlin, 
established nearly fifty years since. 

The Royal Palace is an imposing structure six hundred 
and forty feet long by about half that width, and is over a 
hundred feet in height. It was originally a fortress, but has 
been altered by successive monarchs until it is now a very 
perfect royal residence, containing six hundred rooms and 
state departments. 

We still pursue our course northward, bearing a little to 
the west, until we reach Hamburg, which contains some 
three hundred thousand inhabitants, and is one of the most 
important commercial cities on the continent. It is not 
only situated on a navigable river, the Elbe, — seventy 
miles from its mouth, — but is connected by railway with 
every part of Europe. Hamburg was founded by Charle- 
magne a thousand years ago, the older portions being dark 
and dirty ; but the modern section of the city is very fine 
in the size of its streets and its architectural aspect. Its 
commercial connections with America exceed that of 
any other northern port, and form its main features of 
business importance. Vessels drawing eighteen feet of 
water can ascend the Elbe to the wharves at high tide. 



224 FOOT-PKINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The city is intersected by canals and branches of the 
Alster River, and was once surrounded by a series of 
ramparts, but tiiese have been converted into attractive, 
tree-planted promenades. The public library of Ham- 
burg contains over two hundred thousand volumes, and 
there is no lack in the city of hospitals, schools, colleges, 
churches, charitable institutions, museums, and theatres. 
The botanical gardens and the zoological exhibition are 
remarkable for excellence and completeness. It would be 
difficult to conceive of a more attractive sight than that 
afforded by the broad sheet of water in the centre of the 
town known as the Alster Basin, a mile in circumference, 
bounded on three sides by streets ornamented liberally 
with trees, while its surface is dotted with little omnibus 
steamers and pleasure boats darting hither and thither like 
swallows on the wing. Snow-white swans, tame and 
graceful, are constantly seen floating over the surface of 
this attractive city-lake. The environs of Hamburg are 
rendered very charming by pleasant villas and numberless 
flower-gardens, with an abundance of ornamental trees. 

Our journey northward continues by railway and steam- 
boat via Kiel, crossing an arm of the Baltic to Copen- 
hagen, the capital of Denmark, situated on the island of 
Zeeland. This city, which now contains a population of 
about two hundred and fifty thousand, was a large com- 
mercial port centuries ago, and has several times been par- 
tially destroyed by war and conflagration. The houses are 
mostly of brick, some of the better class being built of 
Norwegian granite, while the newer portion of the town 
presents many examples of fine modern architecture. The 
streets are of good width, laid out with an eye to regu- 
larity, besides which there are sixteen public squares. 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 22$ 

Taken as a whole, the first impression of the place and its 
surroundings is remarkably pleasing and attractive. As 
one approaches the city the scene is enlivened by the 
many windmills in the environs, whose wide-spread arms 
are generally in motion, appearing like the broad wings of 
enormous birds hovering over the land. Perhaps the ear- 
liest association in its modern history which the stranger 
is likely to remember as he looks about him in Copenha- 
gen, is that of the dastardly attack upon the city, and the 
shelling of it for three consecutive days, by the British 
fleet in 1807, during which reckless onslaught an immense 
destruction of human life and property was inflicted upon 
the place. Over three hundred important buildings were 
laid in ashes on that occasion, because Denmark refused 
permission for the domiciling of English troops upon her 
soil, or to withdraw from her connection with the neutral 
powers in the Napoleonic wars. 

As in the Mediterranean, so in the Baltic, tidal influence 
is felt only to a small degree, the difference in the rise and 
fall of the water at this point being scarcely more than one 
foot. Owing to the comparatively fresh character of this 
sea its ports are ice-bound for a third of each year, and in 
the extreme seasons the whole expanse is frozen across 
from the coast of Denmark to that of Sweden. In 1658 
Charles X. of the latter country marched his army across 
the Belts, dictating to the Danes a treaty of peace ; and so 
late as 1809 a Russian army passed from Finland to 
Sweden, across the Gulf of Bothnia. 

The territory of Denmark upon the mainland is quite 
limited, consisting of Jutland only ; but she has a number 
of islands far and near, Zeeland being the most populous, 
and containing, as we have shown, the capital. As a state 



226 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

she may be said to occupy a much larger space in history 
than upon the map of Europe. The surface of the island of 
Zeeland is uniformly low, in this resembling Holland, the 
highest point reaching an elevation of about two hundred 
and fifty feet. To be precise in the matter of her domin- 
ions, the colonial possessions of Denmark may be thus 
enumerated : Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe group of is- 
lands, between the Shetlands and Iceland ; adding St. 
Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John in the West Indies. 
Greenland is nearly as large as Germany and France com- 
bined ; but owing to its ice-clothed character in most parts, 
its inhabitants do not quite reach an aggregate of ten 
thousand. Iceland is nearly the size of our New England 
States, and has a population of seventy-five thousand. The 
Faroes contain ten thousand inhabitants, and the three 
West Indian islands united have a population of a little 
over forty thousand. 

In the year 1880 the Danish monarchy reached the 
thousandth anniversary of its foundation under Gorm the 
Old, whose reign bridges over the interval between mere 
legend and the dawn of recorded history. Gorm is sup- 
posed to have been a direct descendant of the famous Reg- 
nar Lodbrog, who was a daring and imperious ruler of the 
early Northmen. The common origin of the three Baltic 
nationalities which constitute Scandinavia is clearly appar- 
ent to the traveller who has visited Denmark, Sweden, 
and Norway. The race has been steadily modified, genera- 
tion after generation, in its more important characteristics 
by the progressive force of civilization. These Northmen 
are no longer the haughty and reckless warriors who rev- 
elled in wine drunk from the skulls of their enemies, and 
who deemed death respectable only when encountered 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 22/ 

Upon the battle-field. Clearer intelligence and culture 
have substituted the duties of peaceful citizens for the oc- 
cupation of marauders, and the enterprises of civilized life 
for the exaggerated romance of sea-rovers. Reading and 
writing, which were once looked upon by them as allied to 
the black art, are now the accomplishment of nearly all 
classes, and nowhere on the globe do we find j3eople more 
cheerful, intelligent, frank, and hospitable than in the three 
kingdoms of the far North. 

The Denmark of to-day, typified by Copenhagen, its cap- 
ital, is a great centre of science and art. The spirit of 
Thorwaldsen, the contemporary and brother-sculptor of 
Canova, permeates everything, and in making his native 
city his heir, he also bequeathed to her an appreciation of 
art which her eminent scientists have ably supplemented 
in their several departments of knowledge. The Thor- 
waldsen Museum contains over forty apartments, ample 
space being afforded for the best display of each figure and 
each group designed by the great master. The ceilings 
are elaborately and very beautifully decorated with em- 
blematical designs by the best Danish artists. This 
enduring monument is also Thorwaldsen's appropriate 
mausoleum, being fashioned externally after an Etruscan 
tomb. It contains only this master's own works, and a few 
pictures which he brought with him from Rome. He rev- 
elled in the representation of tenderness, of youth, beauty, 
and childhood. Nothing of the repulsive or terrible ever 
came from his hand. The sculptor's fancy found expres- 
sion most fully, perhaps, in the works which are gathered 
here, illustrating the delightful legends of the Greek my- 
thology. No one can be surprised at the universal homage 
accorded to his memory by his countrymen. 



228 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The Ethnological Museum of the city, better known as 
the Museum of Northern Antiquities, is considered to be 
the most remarkable institution of the sort in Europe. 
Students in this department of science come from all parts 
of the civilized world to seek knowledge from its countless 
treasures. One is here enabled to follow the progress of 
our race from its primitive stages to its highest civiliza- 
tion. The national government liberally aids all purposes 
akin to science and art ; consequently this museum is a 
favored object of the state. Each of the three distinctive 
periods of stone, bronze, and iron forms an elaborate divis- 
ion in the spacious halls of the institution. 

This government was the first in Europe to furnish the 
means of education to the people at large on a liberal 
scale; to establish schoolhouscs in every parish, and to 
provide suitable dwellings and income for the teachers. 
The incipient steps towards this object began as far back 
as the time of Christian II., more than three centuries ago, 
while many of the European states were clouded in igno- 
rance. Copenhagen has two public libraries : the Royal, 
containing over six hundred thousand books ; and the Uni- 
versity, which has between two hundred and fifty and three 
hundred thousand volumes. 

Though Denmark is a small kingdom containing scarcely 
three million people, yet it has produced many eminent 
men of science, art, and literature. The names of Hans 
Christian Andersen, Rasmus Rask, the philologist. Oersted, 
the discoverer of electro-magnetism, Forchhammer, the 
chemist, and Eschricht, the physiologist, occur to us in 
this connection. It is a country of legend and romance, 
of historic and prehistoric monuments, besides being the 
very fatherland of fairy tales. The Vikings of old have 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 229 

left their footprints all over the country in mounds. It is 
not therefore surprising that the cultured portion of the 
community is stimulated to antiquarian research. 

The Palace of Rosenborg, situated near the centre of the 
city, was built by Christian IV., in 1604. It is no longer 
used for its original purpose, but is devoted to the preser- 
vation of a chronological collection of the belongings of 
the Danish kings, spacious apartments being devoted to 
souvenirs of each, decorated in the style of the period, and 
containing a portion of the original furniture from the sev- 
eral royal residences, as well as the family portraits, gala 
costumes, jewelry, plate, and weapons of war. Altogether 
it is a collection of priceless value and of remarkable his- 
toric interest, covering a period of over four hundred years. 
One is forcibly reminded of the Green Vaults of Dresden 
while passing through the several sections of Rosenborg 
Castle. Many of the royal regalias are profusely inlaid 
with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and other pre- 
cious stones, forming all together a value too large for us 
to venture an estimate. The toilet sets which have be- 
longed to and been in daily use by various queens are 
numerous, each set embracing a dozen pieces more or less, 
made of solid gold, superbly inlaid with many precious 
stones. Among them one is especially interested in the 
jewelled casket of Queen Sophia Amalie, wife of Fred- 
erick III., a relic inlaid with scores of diamonds. Here, 
too, we see the costly and beautiful bridal dresses of sev- 
eral royal personages, all chronologically arranged, so that 
the intelligent visitor clearly reads veritable history in 
these domestic treasures. 

The Round Tower of Copenhagen is a most singular 
structure, formerly used as an observatory. It consists of 



5 30 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

two hollow cylinders between which is a spiral, gradually 
inclined foot-way leading from base to top. It is quite 
safe for a horse to ascend, and the Empress Catharine is 
said to have reached the summit on horseback. From the 
top of the Round Tower, the red-tiled roofs of the city lie 
spread out beneath the eye of the visitor, mingled with 
green parks, open squares, tall steeples, broad canals, wide 
thoroughfares and palaces. To this aspect is added the mul- 
titude of shipping lying along the piers and grouped in the 
harbor, backed by a view of the open sea. The Swedish 
coast across the Baltic is represented by a low range of 
coast-line losing itself upon the distant horizon. The ram- 
parts which formerly surrounded Copenhagen have been 
demolished, the ground being now improved for fine 
garden-walks, planted with ornamental trees and bright- 
hued flowers, which add greatly to the attractive aspect of 
the Danish capital. The former moats have assumed the 
shape of tiny lakes, upon which swans and other aquatic 
birds are seen at all hours ; and where death-dealing can- 
non were formerly planted, lindens, rose-bushes, and tall 
white lilies now bloom in peaceful beauty. 

No finer scenery is to be found in Europe than is pre. 
sented by the country lying between Copenhagen and El- 
sinore, composed of a succession of forests, lawns, villas, 
cottages, and gardens, for a distance of twenty-five miles. 
Elsinore is a small seaport, looking rather deserted, bleak, 
and silent, with less than ten thousand inhabitants. From 
out of the uniformity of its red brick buildings there looms 
up but one noticeable edifice ; namely, the Town Hall, 
with a square tower flanked by an octagonal one built of red 
granite. The charm of the place is its remarkable situa- 
tion, commanding a view of the Baltic, with Sweden in the 



yoURNEYINGS IM iMANY LANDS. 23 r 

distance, while the Sound which divides the twd shores is 
always dotted with myriads of steamers and sailing-vessels. 
The position of Elsinore recalls that of Gibraltar and the 
Dardanelles as surely as its name reminds us of the 
play of Hamlet, and Shakespeare. North of the town, on 
the extreme point of the land, stands the famous castle 
of Kronborg, with its three tall towers, the central one 
overtopping the others to the extent of some forty or fifty 
feet. The tower, upon the most seaward corner, is devoted 
to the purposes of a lighthouse. The castle is about three 
centuries old, having been built by Frederick II. for the 
purpose of commanding the Sound, and of enforcing the 
marine tolls which were exacted from all foreign nations 
for a period of two hundred years and more. 

If you visit Elsinore, the guide will show you what is 
called Hamlet's grave, situated in a small grove of trees, 
where some cunning hands long ago erected a rude mound 
of stones. Shakespeare, who had a most royal way of 
disregarding dates, made Hamlet live in this place after 
the introduction of gunpowder, whereas if any such per- 
son ever did exist, it was centuries earlier and hundreds 
of miles farther north upon the mainland, in what is now 
called Jutland. However, that is not important. Do not 
leave Elsinore without visiting Ophelia's fatal brook ! To 
be sure, this rivulet is not large enough for a duck to swim 
in, but a little stretch of the imagination will overcome all 
local discrepancies. 

Far back in Danish legendary story, a time when history 
fades into fable, it is said there was a Hamlet in Northern 
Denmark, but it was long before the birth of Christ. His 
father was not a king, but a famous pirate chief who gov- 
erned Jutland in conjunction with his brother. Hamlet's 



232 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

father married the daughter of a Danish king, the issue 
being Hamlet. His uncle, according to the ancient story, 
murdered Hamlet's father and afterwards married his 
mother. Herein we have the foundation of one of Shake- 
speare's grandest productions. 

The Sound, which at Copenhagen is about twenty miles 
wide, here narrows to two, the old fort of Helsingborg on 
the Swedish coast being in full view, the passage between 
the two shores forming the natural gate to the Baltic. 
There are delightful drives in the environs of Elsinore 
presenting land and sea views of exquisite loveliness, the 
water-side bristling with reefs, rocks, and lighthouses, 
while that of the land is charmingly picturesque with many 
villas, groves, and broad, cultivated meads. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 233 



CHAPTER XV. 

ONE day's sail due north from Copenhagen, through 
the Sound, — Strait of Katte, — brings us to Gotten- 
burg, the metropolis of Southwestern Sweden. The Strait, 
which is about a hundred miles in width, is nearly twice as 
long, and contains many small islands. Gottenburg is sit- 
uated on the Gotha River, about five miles from its mouth. 
Though less populous, it is commercially almost as impor- 
tant as Stockholm. The deep, broad watercourse which 
runs through the town to the harbor is a portion of the 
famous Gotha Canal, which joins fjord (inlet from the 
sea ; pronounced feord), river, lakes and locks together, 
thus connecting the North Sea and the Baltic. The two 
cities are also joined by railroad, the distance between 
them being over three hundred miles. The country 
through which the canal passes is not unlike many inland 
sections of New England, presenting pleasant views of 
thrifty farms and well-cultivated lands. There are some 
sharp hills and abrupt valleys to be encountered which are 
often marked by grand and picturesque waterfalls, wild, 
foaming rivers, and fierce surging rapids. 

Gottenburg is divided into an upper and lower town, the 
latter being a plain cut up by canals, and the former spread 
over the adjoining hills. The town is composed of two or 
three principal streets, very broad, and intersecting one 
another at right angles, with a canal in the centre. These 
water-ways are lined by substantial granite borders, with 



234 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR. 

here and there convenient stone steps connecting them 
with the water. The spacious harbor admits of vessels 
drawing seventeen feet. The citizens feel a just pride 
in a well-endowed college, a large public library, an ex- 
change, two orphan asylums, a flourishing society of arts 
and sciences, a large theatre, and two public parks. In 
front of the theatre is an admirable reproduction of the 
Swedish sculptor Molin's famous group of two figures 
representing "the girdle-duellists" [these dueUists, bound 
together, fought with knives], the original of which 
stands in front of the National Museum at Stockholm. 
Gottenburg is not without a cathedral and numerous fine 
churches, nor let us forget to speak of its excellent schools, 
attendance upon which is compulsory throughout Sweden. 
English is regularly taught in her public schools, and is 
very generally spoken by the intelligent people. Educa- 
tion is more general, and culture is of a higher grade in 
Sweden than is common with the people of Southern 
Europe, while music is nearly as universal an acquirement 
here as it is in Italy. The population is frugal, honest, 
self-helping, and in many respects resembles that of Swit- 
zerland. 

The system of inland communication by means of the 
Gotha Canal is one of the most remarkable ever achieved 
by man, when the obstacles which have been overcome 
and the advantages accomplished are considered. Steam- 
vessels, limited to one hundred and six feet in length on 
account of the size of the locks, are carried hundreds of 
miles by it across and over the highlands of Southern 
Sweden from sea to sea. When we see a well-freighted 
steamboat climb a mountain side, float through lock after 
lock, and after reaching the summit of the hills, descend 
with equal facility towards the coast and sea-level, this 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 235 

great triumph of engineering skill is fully appreciated. 
The vessels navigating the canal rise in all, three hundred 
and eighty feet above the level of the Baltic during the 
passage across country. At the little town of Berg the 
locks are sixteen in number, and form a gigantic staircase 
by means of which vessels are raised at this point one 
hundred and twenty feet. 

On the line of the Gotha Canal is situated the famous 
Trollhatta Falls, which are so remarkable as to attract vis- 
itors from all parts of Europe. These falls consist of a 
series of tremendous rapids extending over a distance of 
about two hundred yards, and producing an uproar almost 
equal to the ceaseless oratorio of "Niagara. This angry 
water-way is interspersed by some well-wooded islands, on 
either side of which the waters rush with a wild, resistless 
power, tossed here and there by the many under-currents. 
The whole forms a succession of falls of which the first 
is called Gullofallet, where on both sides of an inaccessible 
little island the waters make a leap of twenty-six feet in 
height, the rebound creating a constant cloud of feathery 
spray. Then follows the highest of the falls, the Toppo- 
fallet, forty-four feet in height, which is likewise divided by 
a cliff into two parts, against which the frantic waters 
chafe angrily. The next fall measures less than ten feet 
in height, followed a little way down the rapids by what 
is called the Flottbergstrom, all together making a fall of 
foaming eddies and whirls equal to about one hundred and 
twelve feet. 

The marine shells which are found in the bottom of 
some of the inland lakes of both Norway and Sweden, 
show that the land which forms their bed was once cov- 
ered by the sea. This is clearly apparent in Lake Wener 



236 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and Lake Welter, which are situated nearly three hundred 
feet above the present ocean level. Complete skeletons of 
whales have been found inland at considerable elevations 
during the present century. The oldest shell-banks dis- 
covered by scientists in Scandinavia are situated five hun- 
dred feet above the level of the sea. 

Sweden has comparatively few mountains, but many 
ranges of hills. Norway monopolizes almost entirely the 
mountain system of the great northern peninsula, but the 
large forests of pine, fir, and birch, which cover so much 
of the country, are common to both. Though iron is found 
in large deposits in Norway, it is still more abundant in 
Sweden, where it is chiefiy of the magnetic kind, yielding 
when properly smelted the best ore for the manufacture 
of steel. It is believed that there is sufficient malleable 
iron in the soil of Sweden to supply the whole world with 
this necessary article for centuries. Mount Gellivare, 
which is over eighteen hundred feet in height, is said to 
be almost wholly formed of an ore containing eighty per 
cent of iron. 

In approaching Christiania, the capital of Norway, by 
sea from Gottenburg, we ascend the fjord of the same 
name a distance of seventy miles. The city, which is 
built upon a gradual slope facing the south, is seen to 
good advantage from the harbor. No more appropriate 
spot could have been selected for the national capital by 
Christian IV., who founded it, and after whom it is named, 
than the head of this beautiful elongated bay. It is the 
seat of the Storthing, or Parliament, and the king, whose 
permanent residence is at Stockholm, is expected to reside 
here, attended by the court, at least three months of the 
year. With its immediate suburbs, the population of the 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 237 

city is a hundred and twenty-five thousand. It should be 
remembered that Norway is practically a free and indepen- 
dent state though it is under the crown of Sweden, and 
that the people are thoroughly democratic, having abol- 
ished all titles of nobility by enactment of the Storthing so 
early as 182 1, at which time a law was also passed forbid- 
ding the king to create a new nobility. Nevertheless, the 
thought occurs to us that these are the descendants of those 
Northmen of whom one branch, under the name of Normans, 
conquered the British Isles, and founded the very nobility 
there which is the present boast and pride of England. 

We find some problems solved in Norway which have 
created political strife elsewhere. Though its Church is 
identical with the State, unlimited toleration exists. There 
is a perfect system of political representation, and while jus- 
tice is open to all, litigation is earnestly discouraged. The 
meetings of the Storthing are independent of the king, not 
even requiring a writ of assemblage from him. Thus it 
will be seen that although nominally under monarchial 
rule, Norway is in reality self-governed. 

The legal code of Norway is worthy of study, both on ac- 
count of its antiquity and its admirable provisions. The 
old sea-kings or free-booters, as we have been accustomed 
to consider them, had a more advanced and civilized code 
than any of the people whose shores they devastated. 
Before the year of our Lord 885, the power of the law was 
established over all persons of every rank, while, in the 
other countries of Europe, the independent jurisdiction of 
the feudal lords defied the laws. Before the eleventh cen- 
tury, the law of Scandinavia provided for equal justice to 
all, established a system of weights and measures, also one 
for the maintenance of roads and bridges, and for the pro- 



238 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

tection of women and animals from abuse ; subjects which 
few other European legal systems at that time embraced. 
These laws were collected into one code by Magnus VII., 
about the year 1260. They were revised by Christian IV. 
in 1604, and in 1687 the present system was drawn up. 
So simple and compact is it, that the whole is contained 
in a pocket volume, a copy of which is in the possession 
of every Norwegian family. Each law occupies but a 
single paragraph, and all is simple and intelligible. 

The commerce of Christiania is growing rapidly. Over 
one thousand vessels enter and depart from its harbor an- 
nually, which, however, is closed by ice three months in 
the year, though that of Hammerfest, situated a thousand 
miles further north on the same coast, is never frozen, 
owing to the genial influence of the Gulf Stream, - — an 
agent so potent as to modify the temperature of the entire 
coast of Scandinavia on its western border. 

The university founded here by Frederick VI. in 181 1, 
is a plain but massive structure ; the front ornamented by 
Corinthian pillars of polished granite. It accommodates 
some nine hundred students, the tuition being free to all 
native applicants suitably prepared. It contains a noble 
library of over two hundred thousand volumes, which 
is freely open even to strangers under very simple restric- 
tions. Beneath the same roof is an extensive museum of 
zoology and geology. The city has a naval and military 
school, a lunatic asylum, an astronomical observatory, and 
various charitable institutions. Its botanical garden is 
situated about a mile from the town, and contains among 
other interesting and finely arranged specimens, a collec- 
tion of Alpine plants from Spitzbergen and Iceland. 

The parliament house is an imposing building of origi- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 239 

nal design, very pleasing in general effect and style, 
facing the Carl Johannes Square, the largest open area 
in the city. It was finished in 1866. The market-place 
is adorned with a marble statue of Christian IV. Another 
fine square is the Eidsvolds Plads, planted with choice 
trees and carpeted with intensely bright greensward. The 
chief street is the Carl Johannes Gade, a broad thorough- 
fare extending from the railroad station to the king's palace, 
halfway between which stands the university. In a large 
wooden building behind the university is kept that un- 
rivalled curiosity, the "Viking Ship," a souvenir of nine 
hundred years ago. The blue clay of the district, where it 
was exhumed in 1880, a few miles south of Christiania, 
has preserved it all these years. The men who built the 
graceful lines of this now crumbling vessel, "in some 
remote and dateless day," knew quite as much of true 
marine architecture as do our modern shipwrights. This 
interesting relic, doubtless the oldest ship in the world, 
once served the^Vikings, its masters, as a sea-craft. It 
is eighty feet long by sixteen wide, and is about six feet 
deep from the gunwale. Seventy shields, as many spears, 
and other war equipments recovered with the hull, show 
that it carried that number of fighting-men. 

In such vessels as this the dauntless Northmen made 
voyages to every country in Europe a thousand years ago, 
and, as is confidently believed by many, they crossed the 
Atlantic, discovering North America centuries before 
the name of Columbus was known. Ignoring the halo of 
romance and chivalry which the poets have thrown about 
the valiant Vikings and their followers, one thing we are 
compelled to admit — they were superb marine architects. 
Ten centuries of progressive civilization have served to 



240 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

produce none better. Most of the arts and sciences may, 
and do, exhibit great progress in excellence, but ship-build- 
ing is not among them. We build bigger, but not finer, 
vessels. 

The burial of this ship so many centuries ago was 
simply in accordance with the custom of those days. 
When any great sea-king perished, he was enclosed in the 
cabin of his galley, and either sunk in the ocean or buried 
with his vessel and all of its warlike equipments upon 
the nearest suitable spot of land. We are told that when 
a chieftain died in battle, not only were his war-horse, his 
gold and silver plate, and his portable personal effects 
buried or burned with his body, but a guard of honor from 
among his followers slew themselves that he might enter 
the sacred halls of Odin (the Scandinavian Deity) 
properly attended. The more elevated in rank the chief 
might be, the larger the number who must sacrifice them- 
selves as his escort to the land of bliss. So entire was 
the reliance of these Heathens in the Remands of their 
peculiar faith, that they freely acted up to its extreme 
requirements while singing songs of joy. 

A general aspect of good order, thrift, industry, and 
prosperity prevails at Christiania. The simplicity of dress 
and the gentle manners, especially among the female por- 
tion of the community, are marked features. No stranger 
can fail to notice the low, sympathetic tones in which the 
women always speak ; but though decorous and worthy, it 
must be admitted that the Norwegian ladies, as a rule, are 
not handsome. One sees here none of the rush and fever 
of living which so wearies the observer in many parts 
of Southern Europe. The common people evince more 
solidity of character with less of the frivolities of life. 



yOURNEYlNGS IN MANY LANDS. 24 1 

They may be said to be a trifle slow and phlegmatic, but 
by no means stupid. The most careless schoolboy, when 
addressed by a stranger, removes his hat and remains un- 
covered until he has responded to the inquiry made of 
him. 

Upon visiting a new city in any part of the world, one 
learns much of the national characteristics of the people, 
and of other matters worth knowing, by mingling un- 
conventionally with the throng, watching their every-day 
habits and by observing the stream of busy life pouring 
through its great thoroughfares. More valuable informa- 
tion is thus acquired than from visiting grand cathedrals, 
art galleries, or consulting guide-books. Years of travel 
fatigue us with the latter, but never with Nature in her 
varying moods, with the peculiarities of races, or with the 
manners and customs of each new locality and country. 
The delight in natural objects grows by experience in 
every cultivated and receptive mind. The rugged archi- 
tecture of lofty mountains, the aspect of tumbling water- 
falls, noble rivers, glowing sunsets, broad land and sea- 
views — each of these has a special, never-tiring and 
impressive individuality. 

While enjoying a bird's-eye view of Christiania, from 
the heights of Egeberg, a well-wooded hill in the southern 
suburb, it is difficult to believe one's self in Icelandic 
Scandinavia, — the precise latitude of the Shetland Islands. 
A drowsy hum like the drone o| bees seems to float up from 
the busy city below. The beautiful fjord, with its graceful 
promontories, its picturesque and leafy isles, might be 
Lake Maggiore or Como, so placid and calm is its pale blue 
surface. Turning the eyes inland, one sees clustered in 
lovely combinations fields of ripening grain, gardens, 



242 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

lawns, cottages, and handsome villas, like a scene upon the 
sunny shores of the Maritime Alps. An abundance of 
trees enliven the view, — plane, sycamore, ash, and elm, 
in luxurious condition. Warmer skies during the summer 
period are not to be found in Italy, nor elsewhere outside 
of Egypt. As we stand upon the height of Egeberg on a 
delicious sunny afternoon, there hangs over and about the 
Norwegian capital a soft golden haze such as lingers in 
August above the Venetian lagoons. 

The summer is so short here as to give the fruits and 
flowers barely time to blossom, ripen, and fade, and the 
husbandman a chance to gather his crops. Vegetation 
is rapid in its growth, the sunshine being so nearly con- 
stant during the ten weeks which intervene between seed- 
time and harvest. Barley grows two inches, and pease 
three, in twenty-four hours at certain stages of develop- 
ment. It is an interesting fact that if the barley-seed be 
brought from a warmer climate, it has to become accli- 
mated, and does not yield a good crop until after two or 
three years. 

The flowers of the torrid and temperate zones, as a rule, 
close their eyes like human beings, and sleep a third or 
half of the twenty-four hours, but in Arctic regions, life to 
those lovely children of Nature is one long sunny period, 
and sleep comes only with death and decay. It will also 
be observed that the flowers assume more vivid colors 
and emit more fragrance during their brief lives than they 
do in the south. The long, delightful period of twilight 
during the summer season is seen here in perfection, full 
of roseate loveliness. There is no dew to be encountered 
or avoided, no dampness ; all is crystal clearness. 

In the rural districts women are generally employed in 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 243 

out-of-door work, as they are in Germany and Italy, and 
there is quite a preponderance of the sex in Norway and 
Sweden. As many women as men are seen engaged in 
mowing, reaping, loading heavy carts, and getting in the 
harvest generally. What would our American farmers 
think to see a woman swing a scythe all day in the hay- 
fields, cutting as broad and even a swath as a man can 
do, and apparently with as little fatigue } Labor is very 
poorly paid. Forty cents per day is considered to be 
liberal wages for a man, except in the cities, where a small 
increase upon this amount is obtained. 

Norway has been appropriately called the country of 
mountains and fjords, of cascades and lakes. Among the 
largest of the latter is Lake Mjosen, which is about sixty 
miles long and has an average width of twelve. It receives 
in its bosom one important river, the Longen, after it has 
run a course of nearly a hundred and fifty miles. At its 
southern extremity is the port of Eidsvol, and at the northern 
is Lillehammer. These are situated in the direct route be- 
tween Christiania and Trondhjem. But the most singular 
fact attached to the lake is that it measures about fifteen 
hundred feet in depth while its surface is only four hundred 
feet above the level of the ocean. Its bottom is known to 
be nearly a thousand feet below that of the adjacent North 
Sea, which would seem to show that the lake must be the 
mouth of some long-extinct volcano. 

As to the animals of Norway, the reindeer, the bear, the 
wolf, the fox, and the lynx about complete the list. The 
ubiquitous crow abounds, and fine specimens of the 
golden eagle, that dignified monarch of the upper regions, 
may often be seen sailing through the air from cliff to 
cliff, across the fjords and valleys. At certain seasons of 



244 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the year this bird proves destructive to domestic fowl 
and young lambs. Magpies appear to be as much of a 
nuisance in Norway as crows are in India or Ceylon, and 
quite as unmolested by the people. What are called the 
wild birds of Scandinavia are in fact quite tame, and they 
are in large variety. As the traveller passes through the 
country, he will observe sheaves of unthreshed grain ele- 
vated upon poles beside the farm-houses and barns, which 
are placed there to furnish the feathered visitors with food. 
These sheaves are frequently renewed throughout the long 
winters ; otherwise the birds would starve. The confiding 
little creatures know their friends, and often enter the 
houses for protection from the severity of the weather. 
Neither man, woman, nor child would think of disturbing 
them, for they are considered to bring good luck to the 
premises. 

In a journey from the capital to Trondhjem, where the 
coasting steamer is usually taken for the North Cape, we 
cross the Dovrefjeld, or mountain table-land. The famous 
elevation called the Sneehaetta — " Snow Hat " — - forms 
a part of this Alpine range, and it is one of the loftiest 
in Norway. It should be remembered that one-eighth of 
the country lies within the region of perpetual snow, and 
that these lofty and nearly inaccessible heights are robed 
in a constant garb of bridal whiteness. No known portions 
of the globe have more extensive glaciers or snowfields, 
unless, possibly, it be some portions of Alaska or Green- 
land. There are glaciers in Norway which cover from 
four to five hundred square miles, descending from plat- 
eaus three and four thousand feet in height, down to very 
near sea-level. 

Though the highest point in the peninsula is only about 



yOURNEYlNGS IN MANY LANDS. 245 

eight thousand five hundred feet above the sea, — an eleva- 
tion which is reached only by Jotunfjeld, or Giant Moun- 
tain, — still no highlands in Europe surpass those of 
Scandinavia in terrific grandeur. Mont Blanc (Switzer- 
land) is nearly twice as high as this Giant Mountain, but 
being less abrupt is hardly so striking. 

The elevations of Norway are intersected by deep, dark 
gorges and threatening chasms, roaring with impetuous 
torrents and grand water -falls, constantly presenting such 
scenes as would have inspired the pencil of Salvator Rosa. 
The mountain system here does not form a continuous 
range, but consists of a succession of table-lands, like the 
Dovrefjeld, and of detached mountains rising from ele- 
vated bases. The length of this series of elevations — ■ 
mountains and plateaus — is that of the entire peninsula 
from the North Cape to Christiania, some twelve hun- 
dred miles, which gives to the mountains of Norway 
and Sweden an area larger than the Alps, the Apennines, 
and Pyrenees combined ; while the lakes, waterfalls, and 
cascades far surpass those of the rest of Europe. It has 
been said, somewhat extravagantly, by those familiar with 
the geography of Scandinavia, that could it be flattened 
out into plains, it would make as large a division of the 
earth as is now represented by either of the four principal 
continents. 

The ratio of arable land to the entire area of Norway is 
not more than one to ten, and were it not that the support 
of the people came mainly from the sea, the country would 
not sustain one-quarter of its present population. Undis- 
mayed, however, by the prevalence of rocks, cliffs, and 
chasms, the people utilize every available rod of land to 
the utmost. The surroundings of many habitations seem 
severe and desolate, even when viewed beneath the sum- 



246 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

mer sun ; what, then, must be their appearance during the 
long and trying winters of their frosty regions ? 

It is not uncommon to see on the Norwegian coast, 
farm-houses surrounded by a few low buildings, perched 
among rocks away up on some green terrace, so high, in- 
deed, as to make them seem scarcely larger than an eagle's 
nest. To anybody but a mountaineer these spots are in- 
accessible, and every article of subsistence, except what is 
raised upon the few acres of available earth surrounding 
the dwelling, must be carried up there upon men's backs. 
A few goats and sheep must constitute the animal stock, 
added to which are generally some domestic fowls. These 
dwellings are constructed of logs, cut in the lofty gulches, 
and drawn by hand to the spot, one by one. It would seem 
that such energetic industry applied in some inviting 
neighborhood would insure a more desirable result. 



yoURNEYlNGS IN MANY LANDS. 24/ 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BERGEN is situated some two hundred miles northwest 
of Christiania, and may be reached from thence by a 
carriole (a peculiar native vehicle) journey across the coun- 
try, over excellent roads, or by steamboat doubling the Naze. 
The latter route, though three times as far, is most fre- 
quently adopted by travellers as being less expensive and 
troublesome. Another, and perhaps the most common, 
route taken by tourists is by the way of Lake Mjosen, 
called the Valders route. It involves railroad, steamer, 
and carriole modes of conveyance, and in all covers a dis- 
tance of at least three hundred and fifty miles. 

Bergen was the capital of Norway when it was under 
Danish rule, and was even up to a late period the commer- 
cial rival of the present capital, Christiania. The town 
rises from the bay nearly in the form of a crescent, nestling 
at the foot of surrounding hills on the west coast, between 
those two broad and famous arms of the sea, — the Sogne- 
fjord and the Hardangerfjord. The first-named indents the 
coast to a distance of over one hundred miles, the latter 
seventy miles, — the first being north, and the last south of 
Bergen. The excellent situation of the harbor and its 
direct steam communication with European ports gives this 
ancient city an extensive commerce in proportion to the 
number of inhabitants, who do not aggregate over forty 
thousand. A large portion of the town is built upon a 
promontory, between which and the mainland on its north 



248 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

side is the harbor, which is rarely frozen over, owing to the 
influence of the Gulf Stream, while the harbor of St. 
Petersburg (Russia), in about the same latitude, is closed 
annually by ice for at least three months. 

We see here more of the traditional Norwegian customs 
than are to be met with either at Gottenburg or Christiania, 
Some of the old men who come from inland are particularly 
noticeable, forming vivid pictures and artistic groups, with 
their long, snowy hair flowing freely about face and neck 
in patriarchal fashion. They wear red worsted caps, open 
shirt-collars, and knee-breeches, together with jackets and 
vests decked by a profusion of silver buttons. The women 
wear black jackets, bright red bodices, and scarlet petticoats, 
with white linen aprons. On the street called the Strand- 
gade many Norse costumes mingle like various colors in 
a kaleidoscope. 

The staple commodity of Bergen is dried fish, mostly cod, 
supplemented by large quantities of cod-liver oil, lumber, 
and wood cut for fuel. A considerable portion of what is 
called cod-liver oil is produced from sharks' livers, which, 
in fact, are believed to possess the same medicinal qualities 
as those of the cod. At all events, with this object, sharks 
are sought for along the upper coast of Norway, especially 
in the region of the Lofoden Islands, and their livers are 
used as described. An average-sized shark will yield thirty 
gallons of merchantable oil, but this article would not ob- 
tain a market except under the more popular name of cod- 
liver oil. Catching sharks is not an employment entirely 
devoid of danger, as they are large and powerful, often meas- 
uring twenty feet and more in length. The shark, like the 
whale, when it is first struck with the harpoon, must be 
given plenty of line, or it will drag down the fishermen's 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 249 

boat in its rapid descent to deep water. Sometimes the 
struggle to capture the fish is a long and serious one, as 
it must thoroughly exhaust itself before it will yield. When 
it is finally drawn to the side of the boat, a heavy, well- 
directed blow upon the nose completely stuns the crea- 
ture, and the capture is then complete. 

There are here some neat public squares, a public park, 
wherein a military band plays occasionally, and half a dozen 
churches. There is also a theatre, royal palace, musical 
institute, public library, and museum ; but there is hardly a 
trace of architectural beauty in Norway, with the exception 
of the cathedral at Trondhjem, which is formed of a mix- 
ture of orders, the Norman predominating. The Church of 
St. Mary at Bergen is only interesting for its antiquity, 
dating as it does from the twelfth century. Its curious 
and grotesque front bears the date a.d. i i 18. 

The shops are filled with odd antique articles, mostly for 
domestic use, such as old plate, drinking-cups, spoons, and 
silver goblets bearing the marks of age, and the date of 
centuries past. A little experience is apt to create doubt, 
in the genuineness of these articles, which, like those found 
in the curiosity shops of Japan, are very generally manu- 
factured in this present year of our Lord, however they 
may be dated. 

A drive of a few miles inland upon the charming roads 
in any direction will fill the stranger with delight, and 
afford characteristic pictures of great beauty. The farmers 
hang their cut grass upon frames of wood to dry, as we do 
clothes upon a rope on washing-days. These frames are 
placed in the mowing-fields, in rows of a hundred feet in 
length and a hundred feet apart, and are about five feet in 
height. Agricultural tools used upon the farms are of the 



250 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

most primitive character ; the ploughs in many parts of 
the country are single-handed, and as awkward as the rude 
implement used for the purpose to-day in Egypt, The 
country houses are low and mostly thatched, the roof being 
often covered with soil, and are not infrequently rendered 
attractive with blooming heather and little blue and pink 
blossoms planted by Nature's hand, — the hieroglyphics in 
which she writes her impromptu poetry. In the meadows 
between the hills are sprinkled harebells, as blue as the 
azure veins on a delicate face ; while here and there patches 
of large red clover-heads are seen nodding heavily with 
their wealth of golden sweets. Further away, in solitary 
glens, white anemones delight the eye, in company with 
ferns of tropical variety in form and color. The blossoms 
of the multebaer, almost identical with that of the straw- 
berry, are abundant. The humidity of the atmosphere 
favors floral development. All through Scandinavia one 
meets these bright mosaics of the soil with a sense of sur- 
prise, they are so delicate, so frail, creations of such short 
life, yet lovely beyond compare, born upon the verge of 
constant frost. 

While rambling afield one meets occasionally a peasant 
who bows low, removing his hat as the stranger passes. 
Without evincing the servility of the common people of 
Japan, they yet exhibit all their native courtesy. Now and 
again the road passes through pine forests, still and aromatic, 
the soil carpeted with leaves, where, if one pauses to listen, 
there comes a low, undefined murmur of vegetable and in- 
sect life, like the sound that greets the ear when applied 
to an empty sea-shell. Some wood-paths are found sprin- 
kled with dog-violets, saxifrage, and with purple heart's- 
ease. Song-birds are rarely to be seen and one cannot 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 25 I 



surroundings. 

The country lying between Bergen and Christiania, and 
indeed nearly every part of Norway, presents great attrac- 
tions to the angler, who must, however, go prepared to 
rough it : but if he be a true lover of the sport, this will 
enhance rather than detract from the pleasure. The coun- 
try is thinly inhabited, and affords only rude accommoda- 
tions for the wandering" pedestrian who does not confine 
himself to the regular post-route. The lakes, rivers, and 
streams, swarm with trout, grayling, and salmon. 

Strangers visit with more than passing interest the ad- 
mirable free school for girls, which is established at Bergen, 
Here girls from eight to sixteen years of age are taught 
the domestic industries practically, under circumstances 
void of every onerous regulation, and they are to be seen 
in cheerful groups at work upon all sorts of garments, 
supervised by competent teachers of their own sex. 
Possessed of these prudential and educational apprecia- 
tions, it is not surprising that Bergen has sent forth some 
eminent representatives in science, art, and literature. 
AmiDng these we recall the names of Ole Bull, the famous 
musician; Ludwig Holberg, the accomplished traveller; 
Johann Wfelhaven, the Norse poet ; and J. C. C. Dahl, the 
celebrated painter. 

Trondhjem is situated on a fjord of the same name oc- 
cupying a peninsula formed by the river Nid, and is sur- 
rounded by picturesque scenery. A delightful view of the 
town and its environs may be had from the old fort of 
Kristiansten. Here resided the kings of Norway in the 
olden time. It is now a thriving but small city, having a 
population of about twenty-five thousand, and is the seat of 



252 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

a bishopric. There is here an academy of sciences, a 
museum, and a pubhc hbrary. The Cathedral of St. Olaf 
is famous, being the finest Gothic edifice iii Scandinavia, 
and the only local object of special interest. In the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries the kings of Norway were 
buried here. 

Trondhjem was founded about a thousand years ago by 
King Olaf Trygvason, upon the site of a much older city 
named Nidaros, but there is certainly nothing visible to 
indicate its great antiquity. The adventurous life of King 
Olaf, which occurs to us in this connection, may be out- 
lined in a few words, and is more romantic than that of 
any other ruler of Norway which is generally known. Born 
a prince, he barely escaped assassination in childhood at 
the hands of the usurper of his rights, by fleeing from the 
country in charge of his mother. They were captured at 
sea by pirates, separated, and sold into slavery. Then fol- 
lowed a period of deprivation and hardship ; but at a com- 
paratively early age Olaf was discovered and ransomed by 
a relative who had never ceased to search for the missing 
youth. He soon after became a distinguished sea-king, 
of that class whom we call pirates. His career in this 
field of adventure is represented to have been one of dar- 
ing and reckless hardihood, characterized by merciless ag- 
gression and great success. Finally Olaf married an Irish 
princess, embraced Christianity, and fought his way to the 
throne of Norway, assuming the crown in the year of our 
Lord 991. From this time he became a zealous mis- 
sionary, propagating his faith by the sword, and like many 
other religious zealots he was guilty of outrageous cruelty. 
Seven years subsequent to the last-named date he de- 
stroyed the Pagan temples of Thor and Odin at Trondhjem. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 253 

Upon the site of this temple he built a Christian church, 
making the city his seat of government, and so it remained 
the capital down to the union with Denmark. Olaf was 
slain in battle while fighting for his throne, and was de- 
clared a saint by the Church, his tomb at Trondhjem being 
a Mecca for pious pilgrims from all parts of Europe for 
centuries. In such veneration were the memory and 
services of this reformed pirate held by a certain class of 
religionists, that churches were erected in his name at 
Constantinople and elsewhere. His ashes lie entombed 
beneath the present cathedral of Trondhjem. 

A short walk from the town brings one to Hlade, where 
stands the castle of the infamous Jarl Hakon, whence, in 
the olden time, he ruled over the surrounding country with 
an iron hand. He was a savage heathen, believing in and 
practising human sacrifices, evidences of which are still 
extant. About a mile from the town, in the fjord, is the 
island of Munkholm, once the site of a Benedictine mon- 
astery, as its name indicates, and which was erected in 
1028. The mouldering and moss-grown base of one of its 
towers is all that now remains. Victor Hugo gives a 
graphic description of this spot in his book entitled " Han 
d'lslande." Here the famous minister of Christian V., 
Griffenfeldt by name, was confined for a period of many 
weary years. He was guilty of no crime, his incarcera- 
tion being the result of political intrigue. When he was 
finally brought to the scaffold for execution, a messenger 
interrupted the headsman at the last moment and an- 
nounced a pardon from the king. " The pardon," said 
the worn-out sufferer, " is severer than the penalty." 

The usual route of those who seek to gain a view of the 
"■ midnight sun " — that is, of witnessing the phenomenon 



254 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

of the sun passing round the horizon without sinking be- 
neath it — is to depart from Trondhjem by sea, for the 
North Cape, skirting the ironbound coast for a distance of 
about seven hundred miles. 

As we sail northward, the rapid lengthening of the days 
becomes more and more apparent. At Lund, in the ex- 
treme south of Sweden, the longest day experienced is 
seventeen hours and a half; at Stockholm, two hundred 
miles further north, the longest day of the year is eighteen 
hours and a half ; at Bergen, in Norway, three hundred 
miles north of Lund, the longest day is twenty-one hours. 
Above this point of latitude to the North Cape, there is 
virtually no night at all during the brief summer season, 
as the sun is visible, or nearly so, for the whole twenty- 
four hours. From early in May until about the first of 
August, north of Trondhjem, the stars take a vacation, or 
at least they are not visible, while the moon is so pale as 
to give no light. Even the Great Bear puts by his seven 
lustres, and the diamond belt of Orion is unseen. But the 
heavenly lamps revive by the first of September, and after 
a short period are supplemented by the marvellous and beau- 
tiful radiations of the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. 
Winter now sets in, the sun disappears entirely from sight, 
and night reigns supreme, the heavens shining only with a 
subdued light. Were it not for the brilliancy of the 
Auroral light the fishermen could hardly pursue their win- 
ter business, that being the harvest time with them, and 
midnight is considered to be the best period of the twenty- 
four hours for successful fishing in these regions. In 
and about Lofoden Islands alone, five thousand boats are 
thus regularly employed, giving occupation to twenty 
thousand men in the boats and a couple of thousand on 
the shore. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 255 

The coast of Norway is bordered by innumerable rocky 
islands, and also by deep fjords, winding inland from ten 
to fifty miles each, among masses of rock forming perpen- 
dicular walls often towering a thousand feet or more in 
height. The turbulent waves of the North Atlantic and 
Arctic Oceans, hurled against the coast for thousands of 
years, have steadily worn into the land and thus formed 
these remarkable fjords ; or perhaps after they were begun 
by volcanic or glacial action, the wearing of the waters has 
gradually brought about their present condition. The 
coast of Sweden, on the other hand, is formed by the 
Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, both of which are 
inland waters, and though there are many islands on the 
Swedish coast, there are no fjords worthy of mention. Not- 
withstanding that the extreme length of Norway, from 
north to south, is hardly twelve hundred miles, yet so 
numerous and extensive are these peculiar arms of the 
sea, that its coast-line is estimated to measure over three 
thousand miles, which gives to these deep indentures 
altogether a length of eighteen hundred miles. 

The peninsula known as Scandinavia is composed of 
Norway, Sweden, and a small portion of the Russian pos- 
sessions in the northeast. This division of country sup- 
ports a population of little less than seven millions, and 
contains in round numbers three hundred thousand square 
miles. The mountains of this section of the globe are 
mostly of primitive rock, presenting as near as possible the 
same form as when they were first solidified, 'standing forth 
as tangible evidence of the great antiquity of this region. 

In her course northward the steamer, upon which we 
embarked at Trondhjem, winds in and out among the 
many islands and fjords, touching occasionally at small 



256 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

settlements on the mainland to discharge light freight 
and to land or to take an occasional passenger. The few 
persons who come from the little cluster of houses, which 
are not sufficient in number to be called a village, are 
found to be of more than ordinary intelligence, and many 
of them speak English fluently. Even in these sparsely 
inhabited regions education is provided for by what is 
termed the " ambulatory system " ; that is, one able teacher 
instructs the youth of three or four neighboring districts, 
meeting the convenience of all by suitable variations re- 
garding time and place in holding school sessions. 

There is but one day in the year when the phenomenon 
of the midnight sun can be seen at the imaginary line 
which we designate as the Arctic Circle, a point in the 
watery waste or on the land, twenty-three degrees and 
twenty-eight minutes from the North Pole ; but by sailing 
some three hundred miles further northward, to the North 
Cape, the projecting point of the extreme north of Nor- 
way, it may be observed under favorable circumstances 
• — that is, when not obscured by clouds — for over two 
months, dating from the middle of May. Soon after 
entering the Arctic Circle, fourteen hundred and eight 
geographical miles from the North Pole, a singularly 
formed island is observed, called by the natives Hest- 
mando, or Horseman's Island, — a rocky and mountainous 
formation of some two thousand feet in height, more or 
less. On approaching the island from the west, by aid 
of the imagination one can discern the colossal figure of 
a horseman wrapped in his cloak and mounted upon a 
charger. The island forms a well-known landmark for 
seamen navigating the coast. It is believed that the 
summit has never been reached by human feet. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 257 

We touch on our way at the little fishing-village of 
Bodoe. Louis Philippe lived here for a brief period when 
travelling as an exile under the name of Muller, and 
visitors are shown the room which he occupied. It is the" 
chief town of Nordland, and has fifteen hundred inhabi- 
tants. After leaving Bodoe the course of the steamer is 
directly across the Vestfjord to the group of the Lofoden 
Islands. Owing to the remarkable clearness of the at- 
mosphere as seen from Bodoe, they appear to be about 
fifteen or twenty miles away on the edge of the horizon, 
though the real distance is about fifty. The play of light 
and shade is here so different from that of lower latitudes 
that distances are very deceptive. 

A little to the westward of the steamer's course in 
coming from the mainland lies the famous whirlpool known 
as the Maelstrom, the subject of many a romantic and 
wild conjecture which lives in the memory of us all. At 
certain stages of the wind and tide a fierce eddy is formed 
here which is somewhat dangerous for small boats to 
cross, but the presumed risk to vessels of the size of the 
coasting-craft usually employed here, is an error. At some 
stages of the tide it is difficult to even detect the exact 
spot which is at other times so disturbed. Thus we find 
that another legend of the credulous past has but a very 
thin substratum of fact for its foundation. The tragedies 
recorded in connection with the Venetian Bridge of Sighs 
are proven to be without reliable foundation ; the episode 
of Tell and the apple is not historical, but a poetical fabri- 
cation ; and now we know that neither ships nor whales 
were ever drawn into the Norwegian Maelstrom to their 
destruction. There are several other similar rapids in and 
about these pinnacled islands, identical in their nature, 



258' FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

though the one here referred to is the most restless and 
formidable. 

On close examination the Lofodens are found to consist 
of a maze of irregular mountain-peaks and precipices, often 
between two and three thousand feet in height, the pas- 
sage between them being very tortuous, winding amid 
straits interspersed with hundreds of rocky islets which 
are the home of large flocks of sea-birds. Dwarf-trees, 
small patches of green grass, and velvety moss grow near 
the water's edge, and carpet here and there a few acres 
of soil, but the high ridges are bleak and bare rock, cov- 
ered in spots with never-melting snow. These islands 
are composed mainly of granite, and for wonderful peaks 
and oddly pointed shapes, deep and far-reaching gulches, 
are unequalled elsewhere. It seems marvellous that a 
steamer can be safely navigated through such narrow pas- 
sages and among such myriads of sunken rocks. These 
■elevations from beneath the sea vary from mere turtle- 
backs, as sailors call them, just visible above the water, 
to mountains with sky-kissing peaks. For a vessel to run 
upon one of these low hummocks would simply be destruc- 
tion, as the water alongside of them is rarely less than 
two or three hundred fathoms in depth. 

The total length of these remarkable islands is about a 
hundred and thirty miles, and the area is computed at 
fifteen hundred and sixty square miles. The population 
will not vary much from twenty thousand, and the entire 
occupation of the people is fishing, curing the fish, and 
shipping them southward. 

The hardy fishermen work nearly all winter at their 
rough occupation, braving the tempestuous Northern Ocean 
in frail, undecked boats, which to an inexperienced eye 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 2^c^ 

seem to be utterly unfit for such exposed service. The 
harvest time to the cod-fishers here is from January to the 
middle of April. Casualties, of course, are more or less 
frequent, but do not exceed those encountered by our fisher- 
men on the banks of Newfoundland. In the year 1848, a 
terrible hurricane visited the Lofodens, and in a few hours 
swept over five hundred fishermen into eternity. The men 
engaged in this service come from all parts of Norway, re- 
turning to their homes in summer and engaging in other 
occupations. 

As we leave the group and steer towards the mainland, 
it is remembered that the coast of Norway extends three 
hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle, projecting itself 
boldly into the Polar Sea. Two hundred miles and more 
of this distance is north of the Lofoden Islands. Now 
and then portions of country are passed on the main- 
land, affording striking and beautiful landscape effects, 
where valleys open towards the sea, presenting views 
sometimes capped by glaciers high up towards the over- 
hanging sky, where they form immense level fields of ice 
embracing hundreds of square miles. 

The varied and ever present attractions of Norway to 
the artist are many, and in a great measure they are 
unique, especially in the immediate vicinity of the 
west coast. No two of the many abrupt elevations 
resemble each other. All are peculiar ; some like Alpine 
cathedrals rear their fretted spires far heavenward, where 
they echo the hoarse anthems played by the winter's 
storms. One would think that Nature in a wayward mood 
had tried her hand sportively at architecture, sculpture, 
and castle-building, constructing now a high monumental 
column or a mounted warrior, and now a Gothic fane amid 



26o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

regions strange, lonely, and savage. There arc grand moun- 
tains and glaciers in Switzerland and other countries, but 
they do not rise directly out of the water as they often 
do in Scandinavia ; and as to the scenery afforded by the 
innumerable fjords winding inland amid forests, cliffs, and 
impetuous waterfalls, nowhere else can we find such 
remarkable scenes. 

Like rivers, and yet so unlike them in width, depth, and 
placidity, with their broad mouths guarded by clustering 
islands, one can find nothing in nature more grand, sol- 
emn, and impressive than a Norwegian fjord. Now and 
again the shores are lined for short distances by the green- 
est of green pastures, dotted with little red houses and 
groups of domestic animals, forming charming bits of 
verdant foreground backed by dark and shadowy gorges. 
Down precipitous cliffs leap cascades which are fed by 
ice-fields hidden in the lofty mountains. These are not 
merely pretty spouts, like many a little Swiss device, but 
grand, plunging, restless torrents, conveying heavy volumes 
of foaminsf water. 



yOUKNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

AS we advance northward, our experiences become 
more and more peculiar. It seems as if humanity, 
like nature, is possessed by a certain sleeplessness in these 
regions during the constant reign of daylight. People are 
wide awake and busy at their various occupations during all 
hours, while the drowsy god appears to have departed on a 
vacation to the southward. The apparent incongruity of 
starting upon a fresh enterprise at midnight is only realized 
on consulting one's watch. 

All along the coast the birds are nearly as numerous as 
the fishes, and many islands are solely occupied by them 
as breeding-places. Their numbers are beyond calcula- 
tion, consisting of petrels, swans, geese, pelicans, auks, 
gulls, and divers. These last are more particularly of the 
duck family, of which there are over thirty distinct species 
in and about this immediate region. Curlews, ptarmigans, 
cormorants, and ospreys are also seen in greater or less 
numbers. 

The steamer lands us for a few hours at Tromsoe, a 
small island in latitude 69° 38' north, a thriving place of 
six thousand inhabitants, a goodly number for a town 
within the Arctic Circle. It is the capital of Norwegian 
Lapland. Both to the north and south of the town snow- 
clad mountains shut off distant views. During the winter 
months there are only four hours of daylight here out of 
the twenty-four, — that is, from about ten o'clock a.m. until 



262 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

two o'clock P.M., — but the long nights are made compara- 
tively light by the glowing splendor of the Aurora Borealis. 
The birch-trees in and about Tromsoe are of a remarkably 
developed species, and form a marked feature of the place. 

Just outside of the town a field is seen golden with but- 
tercups, making it difficult to realize that we are in the 
Arctic regions. A pink-blooming heather also covers 
other fields, and we are surprised by a tiny cloud of but- 
terflies, so abundant in the warm sunshine, and present- 
ing such transparency of color as to suggest the idea that 
a rainbow has been shattered, and is floating in myriad 
particles in the air. 

The short-lived summer perhaps makes flowers all the 
more carefully tended. In the rudest domestic quarters a 
few pet plants are seen whose arrangement and nurture 
show womanly care. Every window in the humble dwell- 
ings has its living screen of drooping, many-colored fuch- 
sias, geraniums, forget-me-nots, and monthly roses. The 
ivy is especially prized here, and is picturesquely trained 
to hang about the window-frames. The fragrant sweet- 
pea, with its snow-white and peach-blossom hues, is often 
mingled prettily with the dark green of the ivy, the climb- 
ing propensities of each making them fitting mates. Surely 
there must be an innate sense of refinement among the peo- 
ple of these frost-imbued regions, whatever their seeming, 
when they are actuated by such delicate tastes. 

One of the most interesting subjects of study to the 
traveller on the journey northward is to mark his progress 
by the products of the forest. The trees will prove, if in- 
telligently observed, a means of fixing his position. From 
the region of the date and the palm we come to that of the 
fig and the olive; thence to the orange, the almond, and 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 263 

the myrtle. Succeeding these we find the walnut, the 
poplar, and the lime ; and again there comes the region of 
the elm, the oak, and the sycamore. These will be suc- 
ceeded by the larch, the fir, the pine, the birch, and their 
companions. After this point we look for no change of 
species, but a diminution in size of these last named. The 
variety of trees is the result of altitude as well as of lati- 
tude, since there are mountain regions of Southern Europe, 
as well as in America, where one may pass in a few hours 
from the region of the olive to that of the stunted fir. 

From Tromsoe vessels are fitted for exploration towards 
the North Pole ; some for the capture of seals and walruses 
among the ice-fields, and also on the coast of Spitzbergen. 
A small propeller is seen lying in the harbor fitted with a 
forecastle gun, whence to fire a lance at whales — a species 
of big fishing, so to speak, which is made profitable here. 
Little row-boats with high bows and sterns flit about the 
bay like sea-birds on the wing, and ride as lightly upon the 
water. These are often " manned " by a couple of sturdy 
women who row with great precision, their faces glowing 
with animation. These boats, of the same model as that 
ancient Viking ship at Christiania, sit very low in the water 
amidship, but are remarkable for buoyancy and the ease 
with which they are propelled. 

The Lapps in their quaint and picturesque costumes of 
deer-skins surround the newly arrived steamer, in boats, 
offering furs, carved horn implements, moccasins, walrus- 
teeth, and the like for sale. These wares are of the rudest 
type, and of no possible use except as mementos of the 
traveller's visit to these far northern latitudes. This peo- 
ple are very shrewd in matters of trade, and are not with- 
out plenty of low cunning hidden behind their brown, 



264 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

withered, expressionless faces. Tliey are small in stature, 
being generally under five feet in height, with prominent 
cheek bones, snub noses, oblic|ue Mongolian eyes, big 
mouths, large, ill-formed heads, hair like meadow hay, and 
very scanty beards. Such is a pen portrait of a people 
who once ruled the whole of Scandinavia. A short trip 
inland brings us to the summer encampment of the Lapps, 
formed of a few rude huts, outside of which they live 
except in the winter months. A Lapp sleeps wherever 
fatigue overcomes him, preferring the ground, but often 
lying on the snow. They are a wandering race, their 
wealth consisting solely in their herds of reindeer, to pro- 
cure sustenance for which necessitates frequent changes 
of locality. A Laplander is rich provided he owns enough 
of these animals to support himself and family. A herd 
that can afford thirty full-grown deer annually for slaugh- 
ter, and say ten more to be sold or bartered, makes a 
family of a dozen persons comfortably well off. Some are 
destroyed every year by wolves and bears, notwithstand- 
ing all the precautions taken to prevent it, while in severe 
winters a large number are sure to die of starvation. 

The herds live almost entirely on the so-called reindeer 
moss, but this failing them, they eat the young twigs of 
the trees. When the snow covers the ground to a depth 
of not more than three or four feet, these intelligent crea- 
tures dig holes in it so as to reach the moss, and guided 
by instinct they rarely fail to do so in just the right place. 
The Lapps themselves would be entirely at a loss for any 
indication as to where this food should be sought when 
covered by the deep snow. The reindeer will carry, lashed 
to its back, a hundred and thirty pounds, or drag upon the 
snow, when harnessed to a sledge, two hundred and fifty 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 265 

pounds, travelling ten miles an hour for several consecu- 
tive hours, without apparent fatigue. The country over 
which these people roam is included in Northern Norway 
and Sweden, with a portion of Northwestern Russia and 
Finland, extending over about seven thousand square 
miles, but the whole race will hardly number thirty thou- 
sand. Lapland, in general terms, may be said to be the 
region lying between the Polar Ocean and the Arctic Cir- 
cle, the eastern and western boundaries being the Atlantic 
Ocean and the White Sea, two-thirds of which territory 
belongs to Russia, and one-third is about equally divided 
between Norway and Sweden. 

In the winter season the Lapps retire far inland, where 
they build temporary huts of the branches of the trees, 
plastered with clay and banked up with snow, leaving a 
hole at the top as a chimney for the smoke, the fire being 
always built upon a broad, flat stone in the centre of the 
hut. In these rude, and, according to our estimate, com- 
fortless cabins, they hibernate, rather than live the life of 
civilized human beings, for eight months of the year. 

After leaving Tromsoe our course is north-northeast, 
crossing wild fjords and skirting the mainland. Along the 
shore at intervals little clusters of fishermen's huts are 
seen, with a small sprinkling of herbage and patches of 
bright verdure. As we glide along among the islands 
which line the shore, we are pretty sure to fall in with one 
of the little propellers, with a small swivel gun at the bow, 
in search of whales. The projectile which is used consists 
of a barbed harpoon, to which a short chain is affixed, and 
to that a strong line. This harpoon has barbs which ex- 
pand as soon as they enter the body of the animal and he 
pulls upon the line, stopping at a certain angle, which ren- 



266 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ders the withdrawal of the weapon impossible. Besides 
this, an explosive shell is so attached that it quickly bursts 
within the monster, producing instant death. A cable is 
then fastened to the head, and the whale is towed into har- 
bor to be cut up, and the blubber tried out on shore. 

The objects which attract the eye are constantly chang- 
ing. Large black geese, too heavy for lofty flying, rise 
awkwardly from the waves and skim across the fjords, just 
clearing the surface of the dark blue waters. Oyster-catch- 
ers, as they are familiarly called, decked with scarlet bills 
and legs, are abundant. Now and then that daring high- 
wayman among birds, the skua, or robber-gull, is seen 
on the watch for a victim. He is quite dark in plumage, 
almost black, and gets a robber's living by attacking and 
causing other birds to drop what they have caught up from 
the sea, seizing which as it falls, he sails away to consume 
at leisure his stolen prize. 

Long before we reach Hammerfest our watches seem to 
have become bewitched, for it must be remembered that 
here it is broad daylight throughout the twenty-four hours 
(in midsummer) which constitute day and night elsewhere. 
To sleep becomes a useless effort, and our eyes are un- 
usually wide open. 

The Gulf Stream, emerging from the tropics thousands 
of miles away, constantly laves the shores, and conse- 
quently ice is not seen. At first it seems a little strange 
that there are no icebergs here in latitude 70° north, 
when we have them on the coast of America in certain 
seasons at 41°. The entire west coast of Norway is 
warmer by at least twenty degrees than most other local- 
ities in the same latitude, owing to the presence of the 
Gulf Stream, — that heated, mysterious river in the midst 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 26/ 

of the ocean. It brings to these far-away regions quan- 
tities of floating material, such as the trunks of palm- 
trees, and other substances suitable for fuel, to which 
useful purpose they are put at the Lofoden Islands, 
and by the fishermen along the shore of the mainland. 
By the same agency West Indian seeds and woods are 
often found floating on the west coast of Scotland and 
Ireland. 

Hammerfest, the capital of the province of Finmark, is 
situated in latitude 70° 40' north, upon the island of Kvaloe, 
or "Whale Island." _It is overshadowed by Tyvfjeld, — 
that is, "Thief Mountain,"- — ^thus fancifully named because 
it robs the place of the little sunshine it might enjoy, were 
this high elevation not at all times intervening. It is the 
most northerly town in Europe, and is about sixty-five 
miles southwest of the North Cape. It is a town of about 
three thousand inhabitants, who appear to be industrious 
and intelligent. Even here, in this region of frost and 
darkness, we are glad to say, there are plenty of good 
schools and able teachers. 

From Hammerfest we continue our voyage northward 
along the coast. The land is now seen to be useless for 
agricultural purposes ; habitations first become rare, then 
cease altogether, bleakness reigning supreme, while we 
seem to be creeping higher and higher on the earth. In 
ascending mountains of the Himalayan range, we realize 
that there are heights still above us ; but in approaching 
the North Cape, a feeling is experienced that we are grad- 
ually getting to the very apex of the globe. Everything 
seems to be beneath our feet ; the broad, deep, unbounded 
ocean alone marks the horizon. Day and night cease to 
be relative terms. 



268 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The North Cape, which is finally reached, is an island 
projecting itself far into the Polar Sea, separated from the 
mainland by a narrow strait. The highest point which has 
ever been reached by the daring Arctic explorer, is 83° 24' 
north latitude ; this cape is in latitude 71° 10' north. The 
island is named Mageroe, which signifies a barren place, 
and it is certainly well named, for a wilder, bleaker, or 
more desolate spot cannot be found on the face of the 
earth. Only a few hares, ermine, and sea-birds manage to 
subsist upon its sterile soil. The western and northern 
sides are absolutely inaccessible owing to their precipitous 
character. The Arctic Sea thunders hoarsely against the 
Cape as we approach the rough, weather-worn cliff in a 
small landing-boat. It is near the midnight hour, yet the 
warmth of the sun's direct rays envelops us. For half an 
hour we struggle upwards at an angle of nearly forty-five 
degrees, amid loose rocks and over uneven ground, until 
the summit is finally reached, and we stand a thousand 
feet above the level of the sea, literally upon the- threshold 
of the unknown. 

No difference is observed between the broad light of 
this Polar night and the noon of a sunny summer's day in 
other latitudes. The sky is all aglow, and the rays of the 
sun are warm and penetrating, though a certain chill in the 
atmosphere at this exposed elevation renders thick clothing 
indispensable. This is the objective point, to reach which 
we have voyaged thousands of miles from another hemi- 
sphere. We look about us in silent wonder and awe. To 
the northward is that unknown region to solve whose mys- 
tery so many gallant lives have been sacrificed. Far to 
the eastward is Asia ; in the distant Avest lies America ; 
and southward are Europe and Africa. Such an experi- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 269 

ence may occur once in a lifetime, but rarely can it be 
repeated. The surface of the cliff is quite level where we 
stand, and beneath our feet is a soft gray reindeer moss 
which yields to the tread like a carpet of velvet. There is 
no other vegetation, not even a spear of grass. Close at 
hand, in all directions, are frightful fissures and sheer preci- 
pices, except on the side where we have ascended. Pres- 
ently the boom of a distant gun floats faintly upwards, the 
cautionary signal from the ship now seen floating far below 
us, a mere speck upon that Polar Sea. 

The hands of the watch indicate that it is near the hour 
of twelve, midnight. The great luminary has sunk slowly 
amid a glory of light to within three or four degrees of the 
horizon, where it seems to hover for a single moment like 
some monster bird about to alight, then changing its mind 
slowly begins its upward movement. This is exactly at 
midnight, always a solemn hour ; but amid the glare of 
sunlight and the glowing immensity of sea and sky, how 
strange and weird it is ! Notwithstanding they are so 
closely mingled, the difference between the gorgeous col- 
oring of the setting and the fresh hues of the rising sun 
seem to be clearly though delicately defined. True, the 
sun had not really set at all on the occasion we describe. 
It was constantly visible, so that the human eye could 
not rest upon it for one moment. It was the mingling of 
the golden haze of evening with the radiant, roseate flush 
of the blushing morn. 

After returning to Christiania we take the cars of the 
railroad which crosses the peninsula by way of Charlotten- 
borg, the frontier town of Sweden. Here there is a cus- 
tom-house examination of our baggage ; for although Nor- 
way and Sweden are under one crown, yet they have 



2/0 FOOr-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

separate tariffs, import and export fees being enforced be- 
tween them. In crossing the peninsula by rail one does 
not enjoy the picturesque scenery which is seen on the 
Gotha Canal route. The railroad journey takes us through 
a region of lake and forest, however, by no means devoid 
of interest, and which is rich in mines of iron and other 
ores. As we approach Lake Maelaren on the east coast, 
a more highly cultivated country is traversed, until Stock- 
holm is finally reached ; a noble capital, and in many re- 
spects exceptionally so. It is situated on the Baltic, at the 
outlet of Lake Maelaren, and is built on several islands, all 
of which are connected by substantial bridges. The city 
has a population of over a hundred and eighty thousand, 
covering an area of five square miles, and, taken as a whole, 
certainly forms one of the most cleanly and interesting 
capitals in Europe. It is a city of canals, public gardens, 
broad squares, and gay cafes, with two excellent harbors, 
one on the Baltic and one on Lake Maelaren. 

Wars, conflagrations, and the steady progress of civiliza- 
tion have entirely changed the city from what it was in the 
days of Gustavus Vasa; that is, about the year 1496. It 
was he who founded the dynasty which has survived for 
three hundred years. The streets in the older sections of 
the town are often crooked and narrow, but in the modern- 
built parts there are fine straight avenues, with large and 
imposing public and private edifices. 

Stockholm is the centre of the social and literary activity 
of Scandinavia, hardly second in this respect to Copen- 
hagen. It has its full share of scientific, artistic, and 
benevolent institutions such as befit a great European cap- 
ital The stranger should as soon as convenient after 
arriving, ascend an elevation of the town called the Mose- 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 2/1 

backe, where has been erected a lofty iron framework and 
lookout, which is ascended by means of a steam elevator. 
From this structure an admirable view of the city is ob- 
tained, and its topography fixed clearly upon the mind. 
At a single glance, as it were, one takes in the charming 
marine view of the Baltic with its busy traffic, and in the 
opposite direction the many islands that dot Lake Maela- 
ren form a widespread picture of varied beauty. The 
bird's-eye view obtained of the environs is unique, since in 
the immediate vicinity lies the primeval forest, undisturbed 
and unimproved for agricultural purposes. 

Though Sweden, unlike Norway, has no heroic age, so 
to speak, connecting her earliest exploits with the fate of 
other countries, still no secondary European power has 
acted so brilliant a part in modern history as have those 
famous Swedish monarchs, Gustavus Vasa, Gustavus Adol- 
phus, and Charles XII. The last-named monarch fought 
all Europe, — Danes, Russians, Poles, and Germans, — and 
gave away a kingdom before he was twenty years of age. 

The Royal Palace of Stockholm is a very plain edifice 
externally, though it is quite large. Its present master. 
King Oscar II., is an accomphshed artist, poet, musician, 
and linguist, nobly fulfilling the requirements of his re- 
sponsible position. He has been called the ideal sovereign 
of our period. His court, while it is one of the least pre- 
tentious in Europe, is yet one of the most refined. The 
State departments of the palace are very elegant, and are 
freely shown to strangers at all suitable times. In the 
grand State Hall is the throne of silver originally occupied 
by Queen Christiana, while the Hall of Mirrors appears as 
though it might have come from Aladdin's palace. Amid 
all the varied attractions of art and historic associations 



2/2 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

which are here exhibited, one simple chamber seems most 
impressive. It is the bedroom of Charles XIV. (Marshal 
Bernadotte), which has remained unchanged and unused 
since the time of his death, his old campaign cloak of 
Swedish blue still lying upon the bed. The clock upon 
the mantel-piece significantly points to the hour and minute 
of his death. The life and remarkable career of the dead 
king flashes across the memory as we stand for a moment 
beside these suggestive tokens of personal wear. We recall 
how he began life as a common soldier in the French army, 
rising rapidly from the ranks by reason of his military 
genius to be a marshal of France, and finally to sit upon 
the throne of Sweden. Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo, 
is the only one of Napoleon's generals whose descendants 
still occupy a throne. 

The shops on the principal streets are elegantly arrayed ; 
there are none better in Paris or New York. A ceaseless 
activity reigns along the thoroughfares, among the little 
steamboats upon the many water-ways, and on the myriads 
of passenger steamers which ply upon the lake. The 
Royal Opera House is a plain substantial structure, built 
by Gustavus III. in 1775. The late Jenny Lind made her 
first appearance in public in this house, and so did Chris- 
tine Nilsson, both of these renowned vocalists being Scan- 
dinavians. It was in this theatre, at a gay masquerade 
ball, on the morning of March 15, 1792, that Gustavus III. 
was fatally v/ounded by a shot from an assassin, who was 
one of the conspirators among the nobility. 

Norway and Sweden are undoubtedly poor in worldly 
riches, but they expend larger sums of money for educa- 
tional purposes, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, 
than any other country, except America. The result is 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 273 

manifest in a marked degree of intelligence diffused among 
all classes. One is naturally reminded in this Swedish 
capital of Linnaeus, and also of Swedenborg, both of whom 
were Swedes. The latter graduated at the famous Uni- 
versity of Upsala ; the former in the greater school of out- 
door nature. Upsala is the oldest town in the country, as 
well as the historical and educational centre of the king- 
dom. It is situated fifty miles from Stockholm. It was 
the royal capital of the county for more than a thousand 
years, and was the locality of the great temple of Thor, 
now replaced by a Christian cathedral, almost a duplicate 
of Notre Dame in Paris, and which was designed by the 
same architect. 

Upsala has often been the scene of fierce and bloody 
conflicts. Saint Eric was slain here in 1161. It has its 
university and its historic associations, but it has neither 
trade nor commerce of any sort beyond that of a small 
inland town — its streets never being disturbed by business 
activity, though there is a population of at least fifteen 
thousand. The university, founded in 1477, and richly 
endowed by Gustavus Adolphus, is the just pride of the 
country, having to-day some fifteen hundred students and 
forty-eight professors attendant upon its daily sessions. 
No one can enter the profession of the law, medicine, or 
divinity in Sweden, who has not graduated at this institu- 
tion or that at Lund. Its library contains nearly two 
hundred thousand volumes, and over seven thousand most 
valuable and rare manuscripts. LinuEeus, the great nat- 
uralist, was a professor of botany and zoology at this 
university for nearly forty years. This humble shoemaker, 
by force of his genius, rose to be a prince in the kingdom 
of science. Botany and zoology have never known a more 



274 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

eminent exponent than the lowly born Karl von Linne, 
whom the Swedes very properly denominate the King of 
Flowers, A certain degree of knowledge relative to plants 
and natural history, forms a part of all primary education 
in Sweden. 

About three miles from the university is the village of 
Old Upsala, where there is an ancient church of small 
dimensions, built of rough stones, containing a monument 
erected to the memory of Anders Celsius, the Swedish 
astronomer. There are also exhibited to the visitor here 
some curious pagan idols in wood. What a venerable and 
miraculously preserved old pile it is ! 

We return to Stockholm, — bright, cheerful, sunny 
Stockholm, — where, during the brief summer months, 
everything wears a holiday aspect, where life is seen at its 
gayest in the many public gardens, cleanly streets, and 
open squares. Even the big white sea-gulls that swoop 
gracefully over the many water-ways of the town — rather 
queer visitors to a populous city — seem to be uttering 
cries of bird merriment. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 2/5 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

IN pursuing our course towards St. Petersburg, Russia, 
from Stockholm, we cross the Baltic, — that Mediter- 
ranean of the North, but which is in reality a remote 
branch of the Atlantic Ocean, with which it is connected 
by two gulfs, the Kattegat and the Skagger Rack. It 
reaches from the southern extremity of the Danish Archi- 
pelago up to the latitude of Stockholm, where it extends a 
right and left arm, — each of great size, — the former 
being the Gulf of Finland, and the latter the Gulf of Both- 
nia, the whole forming the most remarkable basin of 
navigable inland water in the world. The Finnish Gulf is 
two hundred miles long by an average width of sixty miles, 
and that of Bothnia is four hundred miles long, averaging 
a hundred in width. 

The peninsula of Denmark, known under the name of 
Jutland, stands like a barrier between the two extremes of 
the western formation of the continent of Europe. We 
have called the Baltic the Mediterranean of the North, but 
it has no such depth as that classic inland sea, which finds 
its bed in a cleft of marvellous depression between Europe 
and Africa. One thousand fathoms of sounding-line off 
Gibraltar will not reach the bottom, and two thousand 
fathoms fail to find it a few miles east of Malta. The 
greatest depth of the Baltic, on the contrary, is only a 
hundred and fifty fathoms. 

It is a curious, though not unfamiliar fact, that the 



2/6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Baltic, or rather the bottom of the basin in which it Hes, is 
rich in amber, which the agitated waters cast upon the 
shores in large quantities annually, — a process which has 
been going on for three or four centuries. We all know 
that amber is a hardened fossil resin produced by an extinct 
species of pine ; so that it is evident that where these 
waters now ebb and flow there were once flourishing for- 
ests of amber-producing pines. These were doubtless 
gradually submerged by the encroachment of the sea, or 
suddenly engulfed by some grand volcanic action of nature. 
Pieces of the bark and of the cones of the pine-trees are 
often found adhering to the amber, and insects of a kind 
unknown to our day are also found embedded in it. The 
largest piece of amber extant is preserved in the British 
Museum in London, and is about the size of a year-old 
infant's head. 

It is known that the peninsula of Scandinavia is gradu- 
ally becoming elevated above the surrounding waters at 
the north, and depressed in an equal ratio in the extreme 
south, —a fact of great interest to geologists. The total 
change in the level has been carefully observed and re- 
corded by scientific commissions, the aggregate certified 
to being a trifle over three feet, brought about in a period 
of a hundred and eighteen years. 

We take passage on a coasting steamer which plies be- 
tween Stockholm and St. Petersburg by way of Abo and 
Helsingfors, a distance of about six hundred miles. By 
this route, after crossing the open sea we pass through an 
almost endless labyrinth of beautiful islands in the Gulf 
of Finland, including the archipelago, known as the Aland 
Islands, besides many isolated ones quite near the Fin- 
nish coast. This forms a delightful sail, the passage being 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 21 'J 

almost always smooth, except during a few hours of expo- 
sure in the open Gulf. By and by we enter the fjord which 
leads up to Abo, which is also dotted here and there by 
charming garden-like islands, upon which are built many 
pretty cottages, forming the summer homes of the citizens 
of Finmark's former capital. 

The town of Abo has a population of about twenty-five 
thousand, who are mostly of Swedish descent. It is 
thrifty, cleanly, and wears an aspect of quiet prosperity. 
The place is venerable in years, having a record reaching 
back for over seven centuries. Here the Russian flag — - 
red, blue, and white — first begins to greet us from all ap- 
propriate points. The most prominent building to catch 
the stranger's eye on entering the harbor is the long bar- 
rack-like prison upon a hillside. In front of us looms up 
the famous old castle of Abo, awkward and irregular in its 
shape, and snow-white in texture. Here, in the olden time, 
Gustavas Vasa, Eric XIV. and John HI. held royal court. 
The streets are few but very broad, causing the town to 
cover an area quite out of proportion to the number of its 
inhabitants. 

Helsingfors is situated still further up the Gulf, facing 
the ancient town of Revel on the Esthonian coast, and is 
reached from Abo in about twelve hours' sail, also through 
a labyrinth of islands so numerous as to be quite confusing, 
but whose picturesque beauty will not easily be forgotten. 
This is the present capital of Finland, and it contains a 
little over fifty thousand inhabitants ; it has been several 
times partially destroyed by plague, famine, and fire. It 
was founded by Gustavus Vasa of Sweden, in the six- 
teenth century. The university is represented to be of a 
high standard of excellence, and contains a library of about 



2J?> FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

two hundred thousand volumes. The most striking feature 
of Helsingfors, as one approaches it from the sea, is the 
large Greek church, with its fifteen domes and minarets, 
each capped by a glittering cross and crescent, with pendant 
chains in gilt metal ; and as it is built upon high ground, 
the whole is very effective. The Lutheran church is also 
picturesque and notable, with its five domes sparkling with 
gilded stars upon a dark green ground. 

Though Finland is a dependency of Russia, still it is nearly 
as independent as is Norway of Sweden. It is ruled by 
a governor-general assisted by the Imperial Senate, over 
which a representative of the Emperor of Russia presides. 
The country pays no pecuniary tribute to Russia, but im- 
poses its own taxes, and frames its own code of laws. When 
the country was joined to Russia, Alexander I. assured the 
people that the integrity of their constitution and religion 
should be protected, and this promise has thus far been 
honestly kept by the dominant power. 

The port of Helsingfors is defended by the large and 
remarkable fortress of Sweaborg, which repelled the Eng- 
lish and French fleets during the Crimean War. It was 
constructed by the Swedish General Ehrensward, who was 
a poet as well as an excellent military engineer. This fort 
is considered to be one of the strongest ever built, and is 
situated upon seven islands, each being connected with the 
main fortress by tunnels under the water of the harbor, 
constructed at great labor and cost. 

After leaving Helsingfors we next come to Cronstadt, 
being a series of low islands, about five miles long by one 
broad, all fortified, and forming the key to St. Petersburg, 
as well as being the chief naval station of the Empire. 
The two fortifications of Sweaborg and Cronstadt insure to 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 279 

Russia the possession of the Gulf of Finland, no matter 
what force is brought against them. The arsenals and 
docks are here very extensive and unsurpassed in com- 
pleteness. The best machinists in the world find employ- 
ment in them, and the latest inventions a sure and profita- 
ble market. In all facilities for marine armament Russia 
is fully abreast of, if it does not surpass, the rest of Europe. 

The sail up the Neva, queen of northern rivers, affords 
the greatest pleasure. Passenger steamers are seen flit- 
ting about with well-filled decks, noisy tug-boats puff and 
whistle while towing heavily laden barges, naval cutters 
propelled by dozens of white-clad oarsmen and steered by 
officers in dazzling uniforms, small sailing-yachts contain- 
ing merry parties of both sexes glance hither and thither, 
all giving animation to the scene. Here and there on the 
river's course long reaches of sandy shoals appear, covered 
by myriads of sea-gulls, scores of which occasionally rise, 
hover over our steamer, and settle in the water. As we 
approach nearer to St. Petersburg, hundreds of gilded 
domes and towers flashing in the warm sunlight come 
swiftly into view. Some of the spires are of such great 
height in proportion to their diameter as to appear needle- 
like. Among those reaching so far heavenward are the slen- 
der spire of the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, nearly four 
hundred feet in height, and the lofty pinnacle of the Ad- 
miralty Building. Notwithstanding its giddy towers and 
looming palaces rising above the level of the capital, the 
want of a little diversity in the grade of the low-lying city 
is keenly felt. Like Berlin and Havana, it is built upon a 
perfect level, which is the most trying of positions as to 
general aspect. 

St. Petersburg is the grandest city of Northern Europe. 



28o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

By ascending the tower of the Admiralty, a superb and com- 
prehensive view of the capital is obtained. The streets 
are broad, the open squares vast in size, the avenues inter- 
minable, the river wide and rapid ; while the lines of grand 
architecture are seemingly endless. The view from this 
elevation is indeed superb, studded with azure domes 
decked with stars of silver and gilded minarets. A grand 
city of palaces and spacious boulevards lies spread out 
before the eye. The quays of the Neva above and below 
the bridges are seen to present as animated a prospect as 
the busy thoroughfares. A portion of this Admiralty 
Building is devoted to schoolrooms for the education of 
naval cadets. The rest is occupied by the offices of the 
civil department of this service, and a marine museum. 

There are over two hundred churches and chapels in the 
city, most of which are crowned with four or five fantastic 
cupolas each, and whose interiors are rich in gold, silver, 
and precious stones, together with a large array of priestly 
vestments elaborately embroidered with gold and orna- 
mented with a profusion of gems. It is, indeed, a city of 
churches and palaces. Peter the Great and Catharine II., 
who has been called the female Peter the Great, made this 
brilliant capital what it is. Everything that meets the eye 
is colossal. The superb Alexander Column, erected about 
fifty years ago, is a solid shaft of red granite, and the 
loftiest single-stone column in the world. On its pedestal 
is inscribed this simple line : "To Alexander I. — Grateful 
Russia." It is surmounted by an angelic figure, the whole 
structure being one hundred and fifty-four feet high, and 
the column itself fourteen feet in diameter at the base ; 
but so large is the square in which it stands that the shaft 
loses much of its colossal effect. Opposite the Alexander 



l||||||||ll|^|il'l'l>'''T <l 




llilfllu ,2 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 28 1 

Column, on the same wide area, are situated the Winter 
Palace, with the Hermitage on one side as a sort of annex, 
and on the other side in half-moon shape are the State 
buildings containing the bureaus of the several ministers, 
whose quarters are each a palace in itself. There is not 
one of the many spacious squares of the city which is 
not ornamented with bronze statues of more or less merit, 
embracing monuments to Peter the Great, Catharine, 
Nicholas, Alexander I., and others. 

The Nevsky Prospect is the most fashionable thorough- 
fare, and the one devoted to the best shops. It is over a 
hundred feet in width, and extends for a distance of three 
miles in a nearly straight line to the Alexander Nevsky 
Monastery, forming a most magnificent avenue. On this 
street may be seen the churches of several sects of differ- 
ent faiths, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Armeni- 
ans, and a Mahometan mosque. Here also are the Imperial 
Library, the Alexander Theatre, and the Foreign Office. 
The cosmopolitan character of the population of St. 
Petersburg is indicated by the fact that preaching occurs 
weekly in twelve different languages. The Nevsky Pros- 
pect is a street of alternating shops, palaces, and churches. 
Four canals cross but do not intercept this boulevard. 
These water-ways are lined their whole lengths by sub- 
stantial granite quays, and are gay with the life imparted 
to them by pleasure and small freighting boats constantly 
furrowing their surface. Large barges are seen containing 
cut wood, piled fifteen feet high above their decks, deliv- 
ering the winter's important supply of fuel all along the 
banks of the canals. Others, with their hulls quite hidden 
from sight, appear like great floating haystacks moving 
mysteriously to their destination with horse-fodder for the 



282 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

city Stables. From one o'clock to five in the afternoon 
the Nevsky Prospect, with the tide of humanity pouring 
in either direction through its broad road-way, is like the 
Rue Rivoli, Paris, on a holiday. 

The Imperial Library of St. Petersburg is justly entitled 
to more than a mere mention ; for it is one of the richest 
collections of books in all Europe, both in quality and 
quantity. The bound volumes number a little over one 
million, while it is especially rich in most interesting and 
important manuscripts. In a room devoted to the purpose 
there is a collection of books printed previous to the year 
1500, which is considered unique. The Alexander Theatre 
and the library both look down upon a broad square which 
contains a fine statue of Catharine IL in bronze. This 
composition seems to breathe the very spirit of the profli- 
gate and cruel original, whose ambitious plans were ever 
in conflict wdth her enslaving passions. History is com- 
pelled to admit her great ability, while it causes us to 
blush for her infamy. 

St. Petersburg is the fifth city in point of population in 
Europe, but its very existence seems to be constantly 
threatened on account of its low situation between two 
vast bodies of water, A westerly gale and high tide in 
the Gulf of Finland occurring at the time of the annual 
breaking up of the ice in the Neva would surely submerge 
this beautiful capital, and cause an enormous loss of life. 
The Neva, which comes sweeping through the city with 
such resistless force, is fed by that large body of water. 
Lake Ladoga, which covers an area of over six thousand 
square miles at a level of about sixty feet above that of 
the sea. However, St. Petersburg has existed in security 
for nearly two centuries, and it may possibly exist as much 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 283 

longer, independent of possible floods. What the Gotha 
Canal is to Sweden, the Neva and its joining waters are to 
Russia. Through Lake Ladoga and its ramifications of 
connecting canals and rivers, it opens communication with 
an almost unlimited region of inland territory, while the 
mouth of this river receives through the gulf the com- 
merce of the world. 

As regards popular amusements, Sunday is the favor- 
ite day of the seven at the public gardens, on which 
occasion, day and evening, theatrical performances take 
place. The Greek churches, like the Roman Catholic, are 
always open through the entire week, so that the devoutly 
inclined can turn aside at any hour and bow before the 
altar, which to him typifies all that is holy. Sunday is 
therefore regarded here, as in Rome, Paris, or Seville, in 
the light of a holiday as well as a holy-day. After having 
attended early morning service, a member of either church 
unhesitatingly seeks his favorite amusement. The horse- 
races of Paris, the bull-fights of Madrid, and the grand 
military parades of St. Petersburg, all take place on Sun- 
day. Few European communities find that repose and 
calmness in the day which best accords with American 
sentiment. 

The one vehicle of Russian cities is the drosky, the most 
uncomfortable and inconvenient vehicle ever constructed 
for the use of man, but of which there are, nevertheless, 
over fifteen thousand in the streets of the imperial city. 
It has very low wheels, a heavy, awkward body, and is as 
noisy as a hard-running Concord coach. Some one de- 
scribes it as being a cross between a cab and an instrument 
of torture. There is no rest for the occupant's back ; 
and while the seat is more than large enough for one, it 



284 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

is not large enough for two persons. It is a sort of sledge 
on wheels. The noise made by these low-running convey- 
ances as they ai"e hurried over the uneven pavements is 
almost deafening. 

The winter season, which sets in about the first of No- 
vember, changes the aspect of everything in the Russian 
capital, and lasts until the end of April, when the ice gen- 
erally breaks up. In the meantime the Neva freezes to a 
depth of six feet. But keen as is the winter cold, the Rus- 
sians do not suffer much from it, being universally clad in 
furs. Even the peasant class necessarily wear warm 
sheep-skins with the fleece on, otherwise they would 
often freeze to death on a very brief exposure to the low 
temperature which prevails in winter. Doubtless there 
must be poverty and wretchedness existing here, but :t 
certainly is not obvious to the stranger. There is no 
street-begging, and no half-clad, half-starved women or 
children obstruct the way as is so often the case in Lon- 
don or Naples. 

The five islands of the city, separated by the Nevka and 
Neva, are called the "Garden Islands," and they form the 
pleasure-drive of the town, having quite a country aspect, 
forming a series of parks wdiere fine roads wind through 
shady woods, cross green meadows, and skirt transparent 
lakes. Here every variety of villa is seen embowered in 
attractive verdure, and a highly rural effect is obtained 
within city limits. 

St. Petersburg is the most spacious capital ever built 
by the hand of man, and one cannot but feel that many of 
its grand squares, presided over by some famous monu- 
ment, are yet dismally empty. As we look upon it to-day,. 
it probably bears little resemblance to the city left by the 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 28$ 

great Peter, its founder, except in its general plan, and yet 
it extends so little way into the past as to have compara- 
tively no root in history. The magnificent granite quays, 
the gorgeous palaces, the costly churches and monuments 
do not date previous to the reign of Catharine II. The 
choice of the locality, and the building of the capital upon 
it, is naturally a wonder to those who have not thought 
carefully about it, since it seems to have been con- 
trary to all reason, and to have been steadily pur- 
sued in the face of difficulties which would have dis- 
couraged and defeated most similar enterprises. Ten 
thousand lives and more were sacrificed among the labor- 
ers annually, while the work was going on, owing to its 
unhealthy nature, but still the autocratic designer held 
to his purpose, until finally a respectable but not unob- 
jectionable foundation may be said to have been obtained 
upon this Finland marsh. Yet there are those who be- 
lieve that all was foreseen by the energetic founder, that 
he had a grand and definite object in view of which he 
never lost sight, and moreover that the object which he 
aimed at has been fully consummated. 

The Winter Palace is grand in every respect. Its size 
may be divined when we realize that it accommodates six 
thousand persons connected with the royal household. 
With the exception of the Vatican at Rome, and Versailles 
near Paris, it is the largest habitable palace in existence, 
and is made up of suits of splendid apartments, reception 
saloons, drawing-rooms, throne rooms, banqueting-halls, 
etc. The gem of them all is the Salle Blanche, or White 
Hall, so called because the fittings and decorations are all 
in white and gold, by means of which an aerial lightness 
and fascination of effect is produced which is difficult to 



286 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL: OR, 

describe. It is in this apartment that the court festivals 
take place, and there are probably no royal entertainments 
in Europe which quite equal in splendor those given in 
the Winter Palace. One becomes almost dazed by the 
glare of gilt and bronze, the number of polished columns 
of marble and porphyry, the gorgeous hangings, the mo- 
saics, mirrors, and candelabra. Many of the painted ceil- 
ings are wonderfully perfect in design and execution, 
while choice works of art are so abundant on all sides 
as to lose effect. The famous banqueting-hall measures 
two hundred feet in length by one hundred in breadth. 
As we come forth from the palace through the grand 
entrance upon the square, it is natural to turn and scan 
the magnificent front as a whole, and to remember that 
from the gate of this palace Catharine II. went forth on 
horseback with a drawn sword in her hand, to put herself 
at the head of her army. 

The Hermitage, of which the world has read so much, 
is a spacious building adjoining the Winter Palace, with 
which it is connected by a covered gallery, and is five 
hundred feet long where it fronts upon the square contain- 
ing the Alexander Column. It is not, as its name might indi- 
cate, a solitude, but a grand and elaborate palace in itself, 
built by Catharine II. for a picture gallery, a museum, and 
a resort of pleasure. It contains to-day one of the largest 
as well as the most precious collections of paintings in the 
world, not forgetting those of Rome, Florence, Paris, and 
Madrid. The catalogue shows twenty original pictures by 
Murillo, six by Velasquez, sixty by Rubens, thirty-three 
by Vandyke, forty by Teniers, the same number by Rem- 
brandt, six by Raphael, and many other invaluable examples 
by famous masters. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 287 

Here are also preserved the private libraries that once 
belonged to Zimmermann, Voltaire, and Diderot, besides 
those of several other remarkable men of letters. There 
is a royal theatre under the same roof, where plays used to 
be performed by amateurs from the court circles for the 
gratification of the empress, the text of the plays being 
sometimes written by herself. This royal lady indulged 
her fancy to the fullest extent. On the roof of the Her- 
mitage was created a marvellous garden planted with 
choicest flowers, shrubs, and even trees of considerable 
size, all together forming a grand floral conservatory which 
was heated by subterranean fires in winter, and sheltered 
by a complete covering of glass. 



288 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE Palace of Peterhoff is situated about sixteen miles 
from St. Petersburg, on the shore of the Neva where 
the river expands to a width of eight or ten miles. This 
place has always been celebrated for the magnificent enter- 
tainments given here since the days when it was first built 
by Peter the Great. The main structure has no special 
merit in point of architecture, but the location and the sur- 
roundings are extremely beautiful. From the terrace of 
the great yellow palace built upon a natural elevation, one 
gets a fine though distant view of the coast of Finland, 
— a portion of the Tzar's dominion which alone exceeds 
in size Great Britain and Ireland, a wide-spread barren 
land of lakes and granite rocks, but peopled by over two 
millions of souls. The parks, gardens, fountains, hot- 
houses, groves, and embowered paths of Peterhoff are 
kept in the most perfect order by a small army of house- 
hold attendants. The artificial water-works are after the 
style of those at St. Cloud, and are nearly equal to those 
of Versailles. 

Here the famous Peter used to retire and stroll about 
the gardens with his humble favorite, a Polish girl, forget- 
ting the cares of state. This lowly companion, besides 
great personal beauty, possessed much force of character, 
and exercised great influence over her melancholic and 
morose master. Long before her final elevation to the 
throne, many instances are related of her interference in 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 289 

behalf of mercy, which showed a kind and loving nature. 
Peterhoff is the favorite summer resort of the royal family. 

The Tzar's dominion embraces every phase of religion 
and of civilization. Portions of the empire are as barbaric 
as Central Africa, others are semi-civilized, while a large 
share of the people inhabiting the cities assume the high- 
est outward appearance of refinement and culture. This 
diversity of character spreads over a country extending 
from the Great Wall of China on one side to the borders 
of Germany on the other ; from the Crimea in the south 
to the Polar Ocean in the far north. 

The distance from St. Petersburg to Moscow is about 
four hundred miles ; the cars upon this route take us 
directly towards the heart of Russia. Thirty years ago 
there were but about eight hundred miles of railroad in 
the country ; to-day there are twenty thousand and more. 
On this trip one passes through scenery of the most 
monotonous and melancholy character, flat and featureless, 
made up of forests of fir-trees, interspersed with the white 
birch, and long reaches of wide, deserted plains. 

The forest forms a very prominent feature of Russia 
north of the line of travel between the two great cities, 
covering in that region fully a third part of the country ; 
the largest forest in Europe is that of Volskoniki, which 
commences near the source of the Volga. But to the 
south of Moscow the vast plains, or steppes, are quite free 
from wood, consisting merely of sandy deserts, unfit for 
habitation. No country is more thinly inhabited or more 
wearisomely tame. Now and again a few sheep are seen 
cropping the thin brown moss and straggling verdure, 
tended by a boy clad in a fur cap and skin jacket, forming 
a strong contrast to his bare legs and feet. 



290 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Though sparsely inhabited by fierce and active races 
for centuries, the appearance is that of primitiveness ; 
the log-cabins seem to be only temporary expedients, — 
wooden tents, as it were. The men and women who are 
seen at the railroad stations are of the Tartar type, the 
ugliest of all humanity, with high cheekbones, flattened 
noses, dull gray eyes, copper-colored hair, and bronzed 
complexions. Their food is not of a character to develop 
much physical comeliness. The one vegetable which the 
Russian peasant cultivates is cabbage ; this, mixed with 
dried mushrooms, and rarely anything else, makes a soup 
upon which he lives. Add to this soup a porridge made 
of meal, and we have about the entire substance of his 
regular food. If they produce some pork and corn, butter 
and cheese, they are seldom indulged in for their own sub- 
sistence, but are sold at the nearest market, as a certain 
amount of ready money must be had when the tax-gatherer 
makes his annual visit. We are speaking of the masses, 
but of course there are exceptions. Some thrifty peasants 
manage much better than this. No other country is richer 
in horses, mines of gold, silver, copper, and precious stones; 
or in the useful articles of iron, lead, and zinc. Though 
the Russians are famous for having large families, still the 
inhabitants average but fifteen to the square mile, while 
in Germany there are eighty, and in England over four 
hundred to the square mile. 

Forests of such density as to be impenetrable to man 
frequently line the railroad for many miles together, but 
the loneliness of the way is relieved by occasional glimpses 
of wild-flowers scattered along the roadside in great vari- 
ety, diffusing indescribable freshness. Among them now 
and again a tall scarlet poppy rears its gaudy head, nod- 



JOURNEYTNGS IN MANY LANDS. 29 1 

ding lazily in the currents of air and leading us to wonder 
how it came here in such company. A peculiar little blue 
flower is frequently observed with yellow petals, seeming 
to look up from the surrounding nakedness and desolation 
with the appealing expression of human eyes. Snow-white 
daisies and delicate little harebells come into view at 
intervals, struggling for a brief and lonely existence. The 
railroad stations are beautified by floral displays of no 
mean character. It seems that professional gardeners 
travel on the line, remaining long enough at each place 
to organize the skilful culture of garden-plants by the 
keeper's family during the few weeks of summer ; but one 
shudders to think what must be the aspect of this region 
during the long frost-locked Russian winter. 

On reaching the city of Tver, we cross, by a high iron 
bridge, the river Volga, — one of the greatest in the 
world, — the Mississippi of Russia. From this point the 
river is navigable for over two thousand miles to Astra- 
khan. In a country so extensive and which possesses so 
small a portion of seaboard, rivers have a great importance, 
and until the introduction of railroads they formed nearly 
the only available means of transportation. The canals, 
rivers, and lakes are no longer navigated by barges drawn 
by horse-power. Steam-tugs and small passenger steam- 
ers now tow great numbers of flat-boats of large capa- 
city; and transportation by this mode of conveyance is very 
cheap. The Volga is the largest river in Europe. Measured 
through its entire windings it has a length of twenty-four 
hundred miles from its rise in the Valdai Hills, five hun- 
dred and fifty feet above sea-level, to its outlet into the 
Caspian Sea. Many cities and thriving towns are situated 
upon its banks. At Nijni-Novgorod it is joined by the Oka 



292 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

River. In addition to tliese water-ways there are also the 
Obi, the Yenisee, the Lena, the Don, and the Dnieper, 
all rivers of the first class, whose entire course from source 
to mouth is within the Russian territory, saying nothing 
of the several rivers tributary to these. Nor should we 
forget those frontier rivers, the Danube, the Amoor, and 
the Oxus, all of which are auxiliary to the great system of 
canals that connects the important rivers of the empire. 
The Volga by this system communicates with the White 
Sea, the Baltic, and the Euxine. 

While we are narrating these interesting facts relating to 
the material greatness of Russia, we are also approaching 
its ancient capital. It stands upon a vast plain through 
which winds the Moskva River, from which the city de- 
rives its name. The villages naturally become more popu- 
lous as we advance, and gilded domes and cupolas occa- 
sionally loom up above the tree-tops on either side of the 
road, indicating a Greek church here and there. As in 
approaching Cairo in Egypt, one sees first and while far 
away the pyramids of Ghizeh, and afterwards the grace- 
ful minarets and towers of the Oriental city gleaming 
through the golden haze ; so as we gradually emerge from 
the thinly inhabited Russian plains and draw near the cap- 
ital, first there comes into view the massive towers of the 
Kremlin and the Church of Our Saviour with its golden 
dome, followed by the hundreds of glittering steeples, bel- 
fries, towers, and star-gilded domes of this extremely inter- 
esting and ancient city. 

Though some of these religious temples have simply a 
cupola in the shape of an inverted bowl, terminating, in a 
gilded point capped by a cross and crescent, few of them 
have less than five or six, and some have sixteen super- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 293 

structures of the most whimsical device, with gilded chains 
depending from each apex and ai^xed at the base. A 
bird's-eye view of Moscow is far more picturesque than 
that of St. Petersburg, the older city being located upon 
very uneven ground, is in some places quite hilly. St. 
Petersburg is European, while Moscow is Tartar. The lat- 
ter has been three times nearly destroyed : first by the Tar- 
tars in the thirteenth century ; next, by the Poles, in the 
seventeenth century ; and again at the time of the French 
invasion under Napoleon, in 18 12. Still it has sprung from 
its ashes each time as if by magic, and has never lost its 
original character, being now a more splendid and prosper- 
ous capital than ever before, rapidly increasing in popula- 
tion. The romantic character of its history, so mingled 
with protracted wars, civil conflicts, sieges, and conflagra- 
tions, makes it seem half fabulous. The population is not 
much, if any less than that of St. Petersburg, — eight hun- 
dred thousand, — while the territory which it covers meas- 
ures over twenty miles in circumference. 

Moscow is to the Russian what Mecca is to the pious 
Moslem, and he calls it by the endearing name of "mother." 
Like Kief and the Trortzkoi (sacred monastery), it is the 
object of pious pilgrimage to thousands annually, who come 
from long distances on foot. 

The Kremlin, which crowns a hill, is the central point of 
the city, and is enclosed by high walls, battlement rising 
upon battlement, flanked by massive towers. The name is 
Tartar and signifies a fortress. As such it is unequalled for 
its vastness, its historical associations, and the wealth of its 
sanctuaries. It was founded five or six hundred years 
ago, and is an enclosure studded with cathedrals, and em- 
bracing broad streets and spacious squares, — a citadel and 



294 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

city within itself, being to Moscow what the Acropolis was 
to Athens. The various buildings are a strange conglom- 
erate of architecture, including Tartar, Hindu, Chinese, and 
Gothic exhibited in noble cathedrals, chapels, towers, con- 
vents, and palaces. There are about twenty churches within 
the walls of the Kremlin. The Cathedral of the Assump- 
tion is perhaps the most noteworthy, teeming as it does 
with historic interest, and being filled with tombs and pic- 
tures from its dark agate floor to the base of the vast 
cupola. Here, from the time of Ivan the Great to that of 
the present Emperor, the Tzars have all been crowned, and 
here Peter placed the royal insignia upon the head of his 
second wife, the peasant-girl of Livonia. 

The venerable walls of the Kremlin, which measure 
about tv/o miles in circumference, are pierced by five gates 
of an imposing character, to each of which is attributed a 
religious or historical importance. Often have invading 
hosts battered at these gates, and sometimes gained an 
entrance ; but, strange to say, they have ahvays in the end 
been worsted by the faithful Muscovites. Over the Re- 
deemer's Gate, so called, is affixed a wonder-working picture 
of the Saviour, which is an object of great veneration. No 
one, not even the Emperor, passes beneath it without re- 
moving his hat and bowing the head. A miracle is sup- 
posed to have been wrought in connection with this picture 
of the Redeemer at the time when the retreating French 
made a vain attempt to blow up the Kremlin, and hence 
the special reverence given to it. 

The most strikingly fantastic structure in Moscow is the 
Cathedral of St. Basil, which is top-heavy with spires, 
domes, and minarets, ornamented in the most irregular and 
unprecedented manner. Yet, as a whole, the structure is 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 295 

not inharmonious with its unique surroundings, — the semi- 
Oriental, semi-barbaric atmosphere in which it stands. It 
is not within the walls of the Kremlin, but is just outside, 
near the Redeemer's Gate, from which point the best view 
of it may be enjoyed. No two of its towering projections 
are alike, either in height, shape, or ornamentation. The 
coloring throughout is as various as the shape, being in 
yellow, green, blue, red, gilt, and silver. Each spire and 
dome has its glittering cross ; and when the sun shines 
upon the group, it is in effect like the bursting of a rocket 
at night, against a dark blue background. 

In front of this many-domed cathedral is a circular 
stone whence the Tzars of old were accustomed to pro- 
claim their edicts ; and it is also known as " The Place of 
the Scull," because of the many executions which have 
taken place upon it. Ivan the Terrible rendered the spot 
infamous by the series of executions which he ordered to 
take place here, the victims being mostly innocent of any 
crimes. Here Prince Scheviref was impaled by order of 
this same tyrant, and here several other members of the 
royal family were ruthlessly put to death after being bar- 
barously tortured. 

The treasury of the Kremlin, erected so late as 185 1, is 
a historical museum of crowns, thrones, state costumes, 
and regalia generally ; including in the latter department 
the royal robes of Peter the Great as well as his crown, in 
which there are about nine hundred diamonds ; and that of 
his widow Catharine L, which contains three thousand of 
these precious stones. One comes away from the laby- 
rinth of palaces, churches, arsenals, museums, and the 
treasury, after viewing their accumulation of riches, quite 
dazed and surfeited. To examine the latter properly re- 



296 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

quires more than a single day. It is a marvel of accumu- 
lated riches, including the crowns of many now defunct 
kingdoms, such as those of Kazan, Georgia, Astrakhan, 
and Poland, — all heavy with precious stones. The crown 
jewels of England and Germany combined would not equal 
in value these treasures. The most venerable of the 
crowns is that of Monomachus, brought from Byzantium 
more than eight hundred years ago. This emblem is cov- 
ered with jewels of the choicest character, among which 
are steel-white diamonds and rubies of pigeon' s-blood hue, 
such as are rarely obtainable in our day. 

While viewing the many attractions of Moscow one is 
apt to recall a page from history and remember the heroic, 
self-sacrificing means which the people of this Asiatic city 
adopted to repel the invading and victorious enemy. It 
was an act of sublime desperation to place the torch within 
the sanctuary of Russia and destroy all, sacred and profane, 
so that the enemy should also be destroyed. It was the 
grandest sacrifice ever made to national honor by any 
people. " Who would have thought that a nation would 
burn its own capital .'* " said Napoleon. 

Strangers are hardly prepared to find Moscow so great 
a manufacturing centre, more than fifty thousand of the 
population being regularly employed in manufacturing 
establishments. There are over a hundred cotton mills 
within the limits of the city, between fifty and sixty 
woollen mills, over thirty silk mills, and other kindred 
establishments, though enterprise in this direction is 
mostly confined to textile fabrics. The city is fast becom- 
ing the centre of a great railroad system, affording the 
means of rapid and easy distribution for the several prod- 
ucts of these mills. 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 297 

The favorite seat of learning is the Moscow University, 
founded by Peter the Great in 1755, its four principal fac- 
ulties being those of history, physics, jurisprudence, and 
medicine. It is a State institution, and has at this time 
some two thousand students. The terms of admission as 
regards cost to the pupils are merely nominal, the ad- 
vantages being open to all youth above seventeen who can 
pass a satisfactory examination. Here, also, is another 
large and valuable library open at all times to the public, 
containing over two hundred thousand well-chosen volumes. 
This liberal multiplication of educational advantages in the 
very heart of Oriental Russia is an indisputable evidence 
of progressive civilization. 

One is struck by the multitude of pigeons seen in and 
about the city. They are held in great reverence by the 
common people, and no Russian will harm them. Indeed, 
they are as sacred here as monkeys in Benares, or doves 
in Venice, being considered emblems of the Holy Ghost 
and under protection of the Church. They wheel about 
in large blue flocks through the air, so dense as to cast 
shadows, like swift-moving clouds, alighting fearlessly 
where they choose, to share the beggar's crumbs or the 
rich man's bounty. It is a notable fact that this bird was 
also considered sacred by the old Scandinavians, who be- 
lieved that for a certain period after death the soul of the 
deceased assumed this form to visit and watch the be- 
havior of the mourners. 

Beggary is sadly prevalent in the streets of Moscow, 
the number of maimed and wretched-looking human beings 
recalling the same scenes in Spain and Italy, especially 
in the former country, where beggary seems to be the 
occupation of one-third of the people. 



FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XX. 

WE must travel by railway three hundred miles fur- 
ther towards the centre of the empire and in a 
northerly direction, to reach Nijni Novgorod, that is. 
Lower Novgorod, being so called to distinguish it from the 
famous place of the same name located on the Volkhov, 
and known as Novgorod the Great. This journey is made 
in the night, and the cars, which are supposed to afford 
sleeping accommodations, are furnished with reclining 
chairs only. However, we get along very well, and fatigue 
is pretty sure to make one sleep soundly, notwithstanding 
the want of inviting conveniences. Having arrived at 
Nijni-Novgorod early in the morning, we find it to be a 
peculiar city. The residence of the governor of the dis- 
trict, the courts of law, and the citadel are within the 
Kremlin, where there is also a fine monument to the mem- 
ory of Mininn and Pojarski, the two patriots who liberated 
the country from the Poles in 1612. 

The Kremlin, like that at Moscow, is situated on an 
elevation overlooking the town and the broad valley of the 
Volga. As we view the scene, a vast alluvial plain is 
spread out before the eye, covered with fertile fields and 
thrifty woods, through which from northwest to south- 
east flows the river, like a silver thread upon a verdant 
ground, extending from horizon to horizon. On this river, 
the main artery of Central Russia, are seen scores of swift- 
moving steamers, while a forest of shipping is gathered 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 299 

about the wharves of the lower town, and also upon the 
Oka River, which here joins the Volga. From this out- 
look we count over two hundred steamers in sight at the 
same time, all side-wheelers and clipper-built, drawn hither 
by the exigencies of the local trade growing out of the 
great annual fair. The first of these steamboats was 
built in the United States and transported to Russian 
waters, since which it has served as a model to builders, 
who have furnished many hundreds for river service. 

The flat-boats or barges, which have been towed hither 
by the steamers from various distances, having been un- 
loaded, are anchored in a shallow bend of the river, where 
they cover an area of a mile square. On most of these 
barges entire families live, it being their only home ; and 
wherever freight is to be transported, thither they go ; 
whether it is towards the Ural Mountains or the Caspian 
Sea, it is all the same to them : the Arabs of the desert are 
not more roving than they. 

The Volga has a course of twenty-four hundred, and the 
Oka of eight hundred and fifty miles. As the Missouri 
and the Mississippi rivers have together made St. Louis 
in this country, so these two rivers have made Nijni-Nov- 
gorod. This great mart lies at the very centre of the 
water communication which joins the Caspian and the 
Black seas to the Baltic and the White seas ; besides which, 
it has direct railroad connection with Moscow, and thence 
with all Eastern Europe. The Volga and its tributaries 
pour into its lap the wealth of the Ural Mountains and that 
of the vast region of Siberia and Central Asia. It thus 
becomes very apparent why and how this ancient city is 
the point of business contact between European industry 
and Asiatic wealth. 



30O FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

The attraction which draws most travellers so far into 
the centre of Russia, lies in the novelty of the great annual 
fair held here for a period of about eight weeks, and which 
gathers together for the time being some two hundred thou- 
sand people, traders and spectators, merchants and rogues, 
who come from the most distant provinces and countries of 
Asia, as well as from immediate regions round about. 
The variety of merchandise brought hither is something 
to astonish one. Jewelry of such beauty and fashion as 
would grace the best stores of Paris is here offered for 
sale, beside the cheapest ornaments manufactured by 
the bushel-basketful at Birmingham, England. Choice 
old silverware is exposed along with iron sauce-pans, 
tin dippers, and cheap crockery — variety and incongruity, 
gold and tinsel, everywhere side by side. There is an 
abundance of iron and copper from the Urals, dried 
fish in tall piles from the Caspian, tea from China, cotton 
from India, silk and rugs from Persia, heavy furs and 
sables from Siberia, wool in the raw state from Cashmere, 
together with the varied products of the trans-Causcasian 
provinces, even including droves of wild horses. Fancy 
goods are here displayed from England as well as from 
Paris and Vienna, toys from Nuremberg, ornaments of 
jade and lapis-lazuli from Kashgar, precious stones from 
Ceylon, and gems from pearl-producing Penang. Variety, 
indeed ! Then what a conglomerate of odors permeates 
everything, — boiled cabbage, coffee, tea, and tanned 
leather, — dominated by the all-pervading musk; but all 
this is quite in consonance with the queer surroundings 
which meet the eye, where everything presents itself 
through an Oriental haze. 

If any business purpose actuates the visitor, let him 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 30I 

keep his wits about him, and, above all, remain cool, for it 
requires an effort not to be confused by the ceaseless buzz- 
ing of such a crowded hive of human beings. Sharpers are 
not unrepresented here, but may be seen in full force seek- 
ing to take advantage of every opportunity for imposition, 
so that many who come hither thrive solely by dishonesty. 
It is a sort of thieves' paradise — and Asiatic thieves are 
marvellously expert. Most of these are itinerants, having 
no booths, tables, or fixtures, except a satchel or box hung 
about their necks, from which they offer trifling articles at 
low prices, a specious disguise under which to prosecute 
their real design. 

The period of great differences in prices at localities 
wide apart has, generally speaking, passed away, and 
nearly everywhere the true value of things is known. Cir- 
cumstances may favor sellers and buyers by turns, but in- 
trinsic values are fixed all over the world. Nothing is found 
especially cheap at this great Russian-Asiatic fair except 
such articles as no one wants, though occasionally a dealer 
who is particularly anxious to get cash will offer his goods 
at a low price to effect the desired sale. The Tartar mer- 
chant from the central provinces of Asia knows the true 
worth of his goods, though in exchange he pays liberal 
prices for Parisian and English luxuries. Gems which are 
offered so abundantly here can only be bought at some- 
what near to their just value in the markets of the world. 
All the tricks of trade are known and resorted to at these 
gatherings. The merchant begins by demanding a price 
ridiculously above the amount for which he is willing to 
sell. No dealer has a fixed price at Nijni-Novgorod. The 
Asiatic enjoys dickering — it is to him the very life of his 
occupation, and adds zest, if not profit, to his business 
transactions. 



302 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

It is curious to watch the various features, the physical 
development, the dress, manners, customs, and languages 
of the throng. It would be impossible to convey an idea 
of the ceaseless Babel of noise which prevails ; — the cries 
designating certain goods, the bartering going on in shrill 
voices, the laughter mingled with sportive exclamations, 
and the frequent disputes which fill the air. But there is 
no actual quarrelling ; the Russian police are too vigilant, 
too much feared, too summary for that. Open violence is 
instantly suppressed, and woe betide the culprit ! 

Such is this unique fair, which presents one of the rude 
and ancient Eastern forms of trade — a form which was 
once also prevalent throughout Europe, but now rapidly 
disappearing by the introduction of railroads, even in the 
East. The glory of Nijni-Novgorod is already beginning 
to wane ; but it would seem that the fair still represents 
all the gayest features of the olden time, having been held 
here annually since 1366, tradition pointing even to an 
earlier date. 

The large and populous city formed here, though so 
temporary, is divided into long and broad streets lined with 
booths, shops, restaurants, tents, and even minor theatres, 
while the wharves of the rivers are crowded with bales of 
rags, grain, hides, skins, casks of wine, madder, and cotton. 
The total value of the goods disposed of at these annual 
fairs is estimated as high as eighty million dollars. It is 
the only notable gathering of the sort now to be seen in 
Russia. With the close of the day business is mostly laid 
aside, dancing-girls appear in the cafes, and rude musical 
instruments are brought forth, each nationality amusing 
itself after its own fashion. Strange and not inharmonious 
airs fall upon the ear, supplemented by songs, the words 



yoUKNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 303 

of which are utterly unintelligible, except to the circle of 
participants. The whole scene forms a strange picture, as 
parti-colored as Harlequin's costume, while the whole is 
watched by the ever-present Russian police. 

A couple of days at the fair serves to acquaint us suffi- 
ciently with all of its peculiarities, and we return to the 
ancient capital of the empire by night train. 

It is a long and rather dreary journey from Moscow to 
Warsaw, in Russian Poland, the distance being some seven 
hundred miles by rail, and the route very monotonous. 
The country through which we pass is heavily wooded, and 
affords some attractive sport to foreigners, who resort here 
especially for wolf-shooting. In the summer season these 
creatures are seldom dangerous to men, except when they 
go mad, which, in fact, they are rather liable to do. When 
in this condition, they rush through field and forest, heed- 
less of hunters, dogs, or aught else, biting every creature 
they meet, and such victims are pretty sure to die of hy- 
drophobia. The wolves are at all seasons more or less 
destructive to small domestic stock, and sometimes in the 
severity of a hard winter they will gather in large numbers 
and attack human beings, though as a rule they are timid 
and keep out of the way of men. There are also some 
desirable game-birds in these forests. The wild bison still 
exists here, though it is forbidden to shoot them, as they 
are considered to belong to the Crown. If they were not 
fed by man during the long winters, they would surely 
starve. 

In the last portion of this journey the country puts on a 
more agreeable aspect. The beautiful lavender color of the 
flax-fields interspersed with the peach-bloom of broad, level 
acres of buckwheat, produces a pleasant and thrifty aspect. 



304 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

These fields are alternated by miles of intensely green 
oats, rye, and other cereals. No finer display of growing 
grain is to be found, except in Western America. The 
hay-makers, in picturesque groups, are busy along the line 
of the railroad as we pass, nine-tenths of them being 
women. The borders of Poland exhibit a scene of great 
fertility and successful agricultural enterprise. As we 
cross the frontier, a difference in the dress of the common 
people becomes noticeable. Men no longer wear red shirts 
outside of their pantaloons, and scarlet disappears from 
the dress of the women, giving place to more subdued 
hues. The stolid, square faces of the Russian peasantry 
are replaced by a more intelligent cast of features, while 
many representatives of the Jewish race begin to appear, 
especially about the railway stations, where they offer 
trifling articles for sale. The dwelling-houses which now 
come into view are of a superior class to those left behind 
in Russia proper. Log cabins disappear entirely, and 
thatched roofs are rarely seen ; good, substantial frame 
houses appropriately painted become numerous. Small, 
trim flower-i^lats are seen fenced in, adjoining the dwell- 
ings. Lines of beehives find place near these cheerful 
homes, where the surroundings generally are suggestive 
of thrift and industry. 

Li passing through Poland the country presents almost 
one unbroken plain admirably adapted to agriculture, so 
much so that it has been called the granary of Europe. 
The Polish peasants are extremely ignorant, if possible 
even more so than the Russians proper of the same class ; 
but they are a fine-looking race, strongly built, tall, active, 
and well formed. There are schools in the various dis- 
tricts, but the Polish lansruao-e is forbidden to be taught in 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 305 

them : only the Russian tongue is permitted. The peas- 
antry have pride enough to resist this arbitrary measure in 
the only way which is open to them ; that is, by keeping 
their children out of the schools. Education not being 
compulsory here as it is in Norway and Sweden, little 
benefit is consequently derived from the schools. With 
a view to utterly obliterate the Polish language it is even 
made a penal offence by Russian law to use it in commer- 
cial transactions. 

The Polish peasantry as a whole are by no means a pre- 
possessing race. Naturally dull, they are furthermore de- 
moralized and degraded by a love of spirituous liquors, 
these being unfortunately both cheap and potent. As 
regards the nationality of Poland, her fate is certainly de- 
cided for many years to come, if, indeed, it be not settled 
for all time. Dismembered as she is, every new genera- 
tion must amalgamate her more and more completely with 
the three powers who have appropriated her territory and 
divided the control of her people among them. We con- 
tinue to speak of Poland as a distinct country, though the 
name is all that remains of its ancient independence. The 
map of Europe has long since been reconstructed in this 
region, — Austria, Germany, and Russia coolly absorbing 
the six millions of Poles, Warsaw becoming thus the capi- 
tal of Russian Poland. 

We enter the city by the Praga suburb, crossing the lofty 
iron bridge which here stretches over the Vistula, nearly 
two thousand feet in length. 

The city extends about six miles along the left bank of 
the Vistula, and upon very high ground. The river is 
navigable at most seasons of the year, extending the 
whole length of Poland from north to south, its source 



306 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

being the Carpathian Mountains, and its mouth at Dantzig. 
The city covers a great surface in proportion to the num- 
ber of inhabitants, and is enclosed by ramparts pierced by 
ten gates, all being defended by a strong castle of modern 
construction. The fortifications are kept at all times up 
to a war standard, and are very complete in the depart- 
ment of modern artillery. The city has nearly half a mil- 
lion inhabitants, one-third of whom are Jews, who monopo- 
lize the main branches of trade. 

From the top of the railway station in the Praga district 
one gets an admirable view. On the opposite side of the 
river is seen the citadel, the oldest portion of the town, 
with its narrow streets and lofty houses, the castle and its 
beautiful gardens, as well as the newer section of the city, 
including the public promenade and groves about the royal 
villa of Lazienki. Viewed from Praga, as it slopes upward, 
the effect of the city is very pleasing, and a closer exami- 
nation of its churches, former palaces, and fine public build- 
ings confirms the favorable impression. This view should 
be supplemented by one of a bird's-eye character to be ob- 
tained from the cupola of the Lutheran Church, which 
more clearly reveals the several large squares and main 
arteries, bordered by graceful lime-trees. 

In spite of its misfortunes, Warsaw ranks to-day as the 
third city in importance as well as population in the Rus- 
sian Empire. It was not made the capital of Poland until 
1 566, when it succeeded Cracow. It is now the residence 
of a viceroy representing the Emperor of Russia, and the 
place is strongly garrisoned by the soldiers of the Tzar. 
War and devastation have deprived it of many of its 
national and patriotic monuments, but its squares are still 
ornamented with numerous admirable statues, and with a 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 307 

grand array of fine public buildings. In the square of the 
royal castle there is a colossal bronze statue of Sigismund 
III. ; in another quarter a bronze statue of Copernicus is 
found. It will be remembered that he was a Pole by birth 
and was educated at Cracow, his name being Latinized 
from Kopernik. There is a thirteenth century cathedral 
close by, whose pure Gothic contrasts strongly with the 
Tartar style which we have so lately left behind in Russia. 
This old church is very gray and crumbling, very dirty, 
and very offensive to the sense of smell, partly accounted 
for by obvious causes, since about the doors, inside and out, 
swarm a vile-smelling horde of ragged men, women, and 
children, sad and pitiful to behold. 

Here we find the finest public buildings and most ele- 
gant residences strangely mingled with wooden hovels ; 
magnificence and squalor side by side, inexorably jumbled 
together. No other city in all Europe has so many private 
palaces and elegant mansions as may be seen in an hour's 
stroll about Warsaw ; but the architecture is often gaudy 
and in bad taste. Here for centuries there were but two 
classes or grades of society ; namely, the noble, and the 
peasant. A Polish noble was by law a person who pos- 
sessed a freehold estate, and who could prove his descent 
from ancestors formerly possessing a freehold, who followed 
no trade or commerce, and who was at liberty to choose 
his own habitation. This description, therefore, included 
all persons who were above the rank of tradesmen or 
peasants. 

The "Avenues" is the popular drive and promenade of 
the citizens of Warsaw. It is bordered by long lines of 
trees, and surrounded by elegant private residences. Plere 
also are inviting public gardens where popular entertain- 



308 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ments are presented, and where cafes dispense ices, favor- 
ite drinks, and other refreshments. The Botanical Gar- 
dens are close at hand, forming a pleasant resort for the 
lovers of floral beauty. Just beyond these gardens is the 
Lazienki Park, containing the suburban palace built by 
King Stanislaus Poniatovski in the middle of the last cen- 
tury, and which is now the temporary residence of the 
Emperor of Russia when he visits Warsaw. These 
grounds are very spacious, affording complete seclusion 
and shady drives. Though it so closely adjoins the city, it 
has the effect of a wild forest of ancient trees. The royal 
villa stands in the midst of a stately grove, surrounded by 
graceful fountains, tiny lakes, and delightful flower-gar- 
dens. There are some fine groups of marble statuary pict- 
uresquely disposed among the tropical plants. 

One is hardly prepared to see so much commercial 
prosperity and rapidity of growth as is evinced in Warsaw. 
In matters of current business and industrial affairs it 
appears to be in advance of St. Petersburg. The large 
number of distilleries and breweries are unpleasantly sug- 
gestive of the intemperate habits of the people. The 
political division of Poland, to wdiich we have referred, 
was undoubtedly a great outrage on the part of the three 
powers who confiscated her territory, but it has certainly 
resulted in decided benefit as regards the interests of the 
common people. There are those who see in the fate of 
Poland that retributive justice which Heaven metes out 
to nations as well as to individuals. In past ages she was 
a country ever aggressive upon her neighbors, and it was 
not until she was sadly torn and weakened by internal dis- 
sensions that Catharine II. first invaded her territory. 
Nine-tenths of the populace were no better than slaves, 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 309 

in much the same condition as the Russian serfs before 
the late emancipation took place. They were acknowl- 
edged retainers, owing their service to, and holding their 
farms at the option of the upper class ; namely, the so- 
called nobility of the country. This overmastering class 
prided itself on the fact of neither promoting nor being 
engaged in any kind of business ; indeed, this uselessness 
was one condition attached to its patent of nobility. These 
autocratic rulers knew no other interest or occupation than 
that of the sword. War and devastation constituted their 
profession, while the common people for ages reaped the 
fruit of famine and slaughter. Even in what were called 
times of peace, the court and nobles were constantly en- 
gaged in intrigues and quarrels. However hard these 
reflections may seem, they are substantiated by historical 
facts, and are frankly admitted by the intelligent citizens 
of Warsaw to-day. 

That there is shameful despotism exercised by the 
present ruling powers all must allow ; but that peace, indi- 
vidual liberty, and great commercial prosperity now reign 
in Poland is equally obvious. In the days which are popu- 
larly denominated those of Polish independence the nobil- 
ity were always divided into bitter factions. Revolutions 
were as frequent as they are to-day in South America or 
Mexico, and the strongest party disposed of the crown, 
ruling amid tumult and bloodshed. 



310 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XXI. 

FROM Warsaw we turn towards Munich, the capital 
of Bavaria, reaching the quaint old city by way of 
Vienna, a description of which we have given in a previ- 
ous chapter. Munich has a population of about two hun- 
dred thousand, and it possesses many noble institutions 
devoted to charitable, literary, and art purposes. The 
accumulation of art treasures is of the choicest character, 
not exceeded in number or importance by any other city 
of Germany, if we except Dresden. Many of its churches, 
centuries in age, are of great interest. Nearly all of our 
modern bronze statues have been cast in the famous 
founderies of Munich. The university, in the University 
Platz, takes first rank among the educational institutions of 
the old world. The English Garden, so-called, is a beau- 
tiful and extensive park which was established just one 
century ago ; it is about four miles long by half a mile in 
width. Here is seen an admirable statue of Count Rum- 
ford, the founder of the garden. In clear weather the dis- 
tant Alps are visible from here. 

The public library of Munich is remarkably comprehen- 
sive, and contains about nine hundred thousand volumes, 
besides twenty-four thousand valuable manuscripts. Few 
collections in the world are so important. The Bavarian 
national museum embraces a magnificent array of objects 
illustrating the progress of civilization and art. Munich 
is strongly marked in its general aspect, manners, and 



yOURNEYINGS IN xMANY LANDS. 3II 

customs. A considerable share of the most menial as 
well as of the most trying physical labor devolves upon 
the women. It is very repulsive to an American to see 
them, as one does here, ascending high ladders with 
buckets of mortar or bricks for building purposes. The 
stranger is unpleasantly impressed with the fact that 
more beer is drunk in Munich than in any other commu- 
nity composed of the same number of people. The ob- 
vious trouble with those who consume so much malt liquor 
is that they keep half tipsy all of the time, and their mud- 
dled brains are never in possession of their full mental 
capacity. There is not much absolute drunkenness to be 
seen in the streets of this capital, but the bloated faces 
and bleared eyes of the masses show only too plainly their 
vulgar and unwholesome indulgence. 

From Munich we proceed to Frankfort-on-the-Main, an 
ancient and important city of Germany, containing a popu- 
lation of one hundred and twenty thousand. The differ- 
ence in large communities is remarkable. While some 
cities with three hundred thousand inhabitants seem 
drowsy and "slow," another, like this of Frankfort, with 
not half that population, presents the aspect of much more 
life, activity, and volume of business. Here we have fine, 
cleanly streets, and stores almost Parisian in elegance and 
richness of display. The older portions of the town have 
the usual narrow lanes and dark alleys of past centuries, 
with quaint, overhanging fronts to the houses. The city 
is surrounded on three sides by very beautiful public gar- 
dens. The venerable town hall is an object of universal 
interest. One visits also the house from which Luther 
addressed the multitude in the Dom Platz, or square : 
nor should another famous residence be forgotten; namely, 



312 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

that in which Goethe was born, in memory of whom a co- 
lossal bronze statue stands in the Goethe Platz. There is 
also a group here of three statues in honor of Gutenberg, 
Faust, and Schoffer, inventors of printing. In the Schiller 
Platz is a bronze statue of Schiller. The public library- 
has a hundred and thirty thousand volumes, and there is 
a museum of natural history, an art gallery of choice paint- 
ings, and all the usual philanthropic organizations appro- 
priate to a populous Christian capital. Frankfort is a great 
money centre, and is the residence of many very rich bank- 
ers. In the grounds attached to the residence of one of 
these wealthy men is exhibited, in a suitable building, the 
famous marble statue of Ariadne, by Dannecker. There 
is also here a fine botanical garden with a collection of 
choice plants open to the public. Thus it will be seen 
that Frankfort, upon the whole, though comparatively 
small, is yet an extremely pleasing city, thriving, cleanly, 
and attractive. 

Our next place to visit is Cologne, a city situated on the 
left bank of the Rhine. It was a famous and prosperous 
Roman colony fifteen hundred years ago, containing amphi- 
theatres, temples, and aqueducts. The passage-ways in 
the ancient portions of the city are remarkably small, but 
there are some fine modern streets, arcades, and open 
squares, which present a busy aspect, with an active popu- 
lation of one hundred and sixty thousand. The Rhine is 
here crossed by a substantial iron bridge, as also by a 
bridge of boats. The one most prominent attraction of 
Cologne is its grand, and in some respects unequalled, 
cathedral, which was over six hundred years in process of 
building. It was not completed until so late as 1880, 
representing an enormous amount of elaborate masonry. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 313 

The towers are over five hundred feet high. The effect of 
the interior, with its vast height, noble pillars, niches, 
chapels, and stained glass windows is most impressive, and 
by many travellers is thought to be unequalled elsewhere. 
The exterior, with its immense flying buttresses and 
myriads of pinnacles, is truly awe-inspiring. There are 
other old and interesting churches here. That of St. 
Gereon is said to contain the bones of the hundreds of 
martyrs of the Theban Legion who were slain by order of 
the Emperor Diocletian in the year 286. The Church of 
St. Peter's, where Rubens was baptized, contains his famous 
picture entitled the " Crucifixion of St. Peter," painted a 
short time before the artist's death. The stranger is 
shown the house at No. 10 Sternengasse, where Maria 
d' Medici died in 1642. Rubens lived in this same house 
when a boy of ten years. There is a choice and compre- 
hensive gallery of paintings at Cologne. 

From this city we turn our steps towards Paris, by the 
way of Antwerp, Belgium, which is remarkable for its 
many churches, convents, and noble public buildings, 
beautiful parks, and open squares. It has a population of 
fully three hundred thousand, owing its attraction mostly 
to the fact that here are gathered so many masterpieces of 
painting. The great influence of Rubens can hardly be 
fully appreciated without a visit to this Flemish capital, 
where he lived so long, where he died, and where his ashes 
rest in the Church of St. Jacques. Here is the burial 
place of many noble families, and among them that of 
Rubens, his tomb being situated just back of the high 
altar. Above it is a painting by his own hand, intended to 
represent the Holy Family, but its object is also well 
understood as being to perpetuate a series of likenesses of 



314 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

the Rubens family ; namely, of himself, his two wives, and 
his daughter, besides his father and grandfather. Vandyke 
and Teniers were also natives of Antwerp, where their 
best works still remain, and where the state has erected 
fitting monuments to their memory. Jordaens, the younger 
Teniers, and Denis Calvart, the art master of Guido, the 
great Italian painter, were also natives of this city. 

The Cathedral of Antwerp, more remarkable for its 
exterior than interior, is of the pointed style. Did it not 
contain Rubens' world-renowned pictures, the Descent 
from the Cross, the Elevation of the Cross, and the 
Assumption, few people would care to visit it. In all the 
older portions of the town the houses have a queer way of 
standing with their gable ends to the street, as we see 
them in Amsterdam and Hamburg, showing it to be a 
Dutch fashion. Dogs are universally used here in place of 
donkeys for drawing small carts. Beggars there are none 
to be seen, to the credit of the city be it said. 

From Antwerp we make our way to Paris, whence to 
take a brief trip into Switzerland, which, after a journey by 
rail of three hundred and twenty-five miles, we enter on 
the northwestern corner, at Bale, a considerable city of 
nearly seventy thousand inhabitants, situated on the left 
bank of the Rhine. Its earliest history was that of a 
Roman colony ; consequently there are many portions of 
the place especially "quaint and olden." Being situated 
at the junction of the frontiers of France, Germany, and 
Switzerland, it has a considerable trade and evinces much 
commercial life. It has many admirable institutions, a 
public library which contains about a hundred thousand 
volumes, and a justly famed university which also has a 
library of two hundred thousand volumes. The town hall 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 315 

is a curious old structure three centuries old and of the 
Gothic style. Most cities have some specialty in manu- 
facturing, and Bale is not without its peculiarity in this 
respect. It consists of the production of silk ribbons of 
exquisite finish and in great variety, which find their way 
to distant and profitable markets. 

There is an admirably arranged picture gallery and art 
museum here, principally remarkable for the number of 
paintings by the younger Holbein, but containing, also, 
many other fine works of the modern painters. The 
cathedral dates back nearly nine hundred years, or, to be 
exact, to loio. It was originally of the Byzantine order, 
but has been repaired and added to until it has assumed a 
Gothic shape. The material is red sandstone. It has 
two lofty towers, and the portal is ornamented with 
mounted statues of St. George and St. Martin. About 
six miles from Bale, on the river near its confluence with 
the Ergolz, is Augst, upon the site of the great Roman 
city of Augusta Rauracorum, founded in the reign of 
Augustus. From these ruins have been taken many 
valuable relics which are deposited in the museum of Bale. 

From Bale we take the railway southward to Lausanne, 
situated on the borders of Lake Geneva, where we find a 
population numbering some thirty-three thousand. This 
city occupies a beautiful and commanding situation over- 
looking the lake and valley. Its streets are hilly and 
irregular, but are well kept and cleanly. The view from 
the high points of the town is very fine, the Jura Moun- 
tains enclosing a portion of the landscape, which is vine- 
clad and varied in its systematic cultivation. If we stop 
at the Hotel Gibbon, which is a good house, we shall see 
in its garden overlooking the lake, the spot where the his- 



3l6 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

torian Gibbon completed his "Decline and Fall of tne 
Roman Empire." Lausanne is a delightful summer resort, 
cool and healthful. 

Geneva, with a population of about fifty thousand, is 
located on the same lake a short journey southward, being 
one of the largest and wealthiest towns in Switzerland. 
It is situated at the point where the river Rhone emerges 
from the lake, forming a favorite watering-place with large 
and admirable hotels, but many of the streets are steep, 
narrow, and crooked. The Rhone separates the town into 
two parts, and is here crossed by eight bridges. We get 
from Geneva a superb view of the Mont Blanc group, and 
the relative height of the several peaks is better realized 
than from a nearer point. Mont Blanc is upwards of 
fifteen thousand feet in height. 

Geneva has few attractions except its position and scen- 
ery, being in the vicinity of the most famous mountains 
in Switzerland. The history of the place is, however, 
very interesting. Calvin resided here nearly thirty years. 
Rousseau was born here in 1712, and it has been the birth- 
place of other famous scholars, botanists, naturalists, and 
philosophers. Necker, financial minister to Louis XVL, 
and his daughter, Madame de Stael, were natives of Geneva. 
In the environs, say four miles from Geneva, Voltaire built 
a famous chateau, making it his home for a number of 
years. From here one goes to Chamouni, if disposed 
for mountain-climbing, — the immediate region of Mont 
Blanc. 

The Lake of Geneva, or Lake Leman, the name by which 
it is best known, is forty-five miles long, varying from two 
to eight miles in width. We will cross the lake by steamer 
to the charming little town of Vevay, situated on the 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 317 

northern side, and containing some nine thousand inhabi- 
tants. A few miles from this point, where the Rhone 
enters the lake, stands the famous Castle of Chillon, con- 
nected with the shore by a drawbridge, — palace, castle, 
and prison, all in one. Some of its dark damp cells are 
hewn out of the solid rock beneath the surface of the lake. 
This fortress of the Middle Ages has been rendered famil- 
iar to us by Byron's poetic pen. It was built by Ame- 
deus IV., Count of Savoy, in 1238. Here languished Bon- 
nivard in his underground cell for six years, during which 
time he wore a prisoner's chains for his heroic defence of 
Genevan liberty. 

A short journey northward by railway brings us to Berne, 
the capital of Switzerland, and which contains less than 
forty thousand inhabitants. It is situated upon a lofty 
promontory above the winding Aar, which nearly surrounds 
it, and is crossed here by two stone bridges. The view of 
the snow-capped Bernese Alps from Berne is remarkably 
fine and comprehensive. The town has all the usual chari- 
table and educational organizations, with a public library 
containing fifty thousand volumes. Many of the business 
streets are lined by arcades for foot passengers. Fountains 
abound, each one being surmounted by some grotesque fig- 
ure. The cathedral is a fine Gothic structure, dating 
from 1457. The bear, of whose name the word Berne is 
the German equivalent, forms the principal figure in the 
crest or arms of the city. Near the Aarburg gate is a 
small menagerie of these animals, kept up at all times, 
and at the public expense. The figure of a bear appears 
to one in all sorts of connections about the city. There 
is here a curious and famous clock-tower. Just as the 
hour is about to strike, a wooden figure of chanticleer 



3l8 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

appears and crows. He is followed by another puppet 
v/hich strikes the hour upon a bell, and then come forth a 
number of bears from the interior of the clock, each one 
making an obeisance to an enthroned figure, which in turn 
inclines its sceptre and opens its mouth. The town is 
noted for the manufacture of choice musical boxes, which 
are sold all over Europe and America. 

We go by railway from Berne to Lucerne, which is situ- 
ated on the lake of the same name, and contains a popula- 
tion of twenty thousand. The ancient walls which served 
the town in olden times are still in good preservation. 
Lucerne is located between the Rigi and Pilatus (lofty 
mountains), while it faces the snow-clad Alps of Uri and 
Engelberg. Here the river Reuss issues from the lake 
with great force. The Schweizerhof Quay, beautifully 
ornamented with trees, borders the lake, and is a famous 
promenade for visitors. The chief object of interest, after 
the very remarkable scenery, is the lion-sculptured rock, in 
a garden adjoining the town, designed to commemorate 
the Swiss guard, who sacrificed themselves in fidelity to 
their royal master, the king of France, at the beginning 
of the French Revolution. It was modelled by Thorwald- 
sen. The lake of Lucerne is unsurpassed in Europe for 
its scenic beauty. It is twenty miles in length, and of 
irregular width ; the greatest depth reaches five hundred 
feet. 

A short trip northward brings us to Zurich, which has 
a population of eighty thousand, and is situated on the 
borders of the lake whose name it bears. It is recognized 
as the Athens of Switzerland, the intellectual capital of the 
country, as well as being one of the busiest of manufactur- 
ing centres, silk and cotton goods forming the staple. The 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 319 

educational facilities afforded at Zurich are recognized all 
over Europe. The scenery of the suburbs is very fine and 
peculiarly Swiss, the immediate neighborhood being highly 
cultivated, and the distance formed by snowy Alps. Lava- 
ter, the great physiognomist, Gesner, the celebrated natu- 
ralist, and Pestalozzi, the educational reformer, were born 
at Zurich. The shores of this beautiful lake are covered 
with vineyards, grain-fields, and pleasant gardens inter- 
spersed with the most picturesque cottages and capacious 
villas. Zurich is divided into two parts by the rapid river 
Limmat, somewhat as the Rhone divides Geneva. The 
Platz-promenade is an avenue of shady trees on the banks 
of the clear, swift river, which is much frequented by the 
populace. It terminates just where the small river Sihl 
joins the Limmat. The former is an insignificant stream 
except in the spring, when it assumes considerable impor- 
tance through the body of water which it conducts into 
the bosom of the larger river. 

Switzerland is but a small division of Europe. Its great- 
est length from east to west is about two hundred miles, and 
its width north and south is about one hundred and forty 
Two-thirds of its surface consists of lofty Alps, as we have 
shown, the scenery being thus marked by towering moun- 
tains, vast glaciers, beautiful lakes, fertile valleys, and glit- 
tering cascades. Owing to the great elevation of most of 
the country, the climate is uniformly rather cold. The 
population does not exceed three millions. The different 
languages spoken in Switzerland show that the people 
have no common origin, but come from different races. 
In the west, French is the language which is in common 
use, and these people are believed to have descended from 
the Burgundians ; in the north, where German is spoken. 



320 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

a common origin is indicated with the Germans of Swabia ; 
while in the south, both the language and the physical 
appearance of the people is that of the Italians. 

On our way towards England from Zurich, we pass 
through Schaffhausen, about forty miles from the former 
city, on the right bank of the Rhine, having a population 
of about ten thousand. It is a place of considerable busi- 
ness activity, very quaint and antique in general aspect, 
the style of architecture reminding one of that seen in 
Chester, England. The chief object of attraction to stran- 
gers in this neighborhood is the famous falls of the Rhine, 
which form three tremendous cascades, where the river is 
three hundred feet in width, and the falls are eighty feet 
in height. Schaffhausen is the capital of the canton of 
the same name, and retains many of the ancient features 
of a Swabian town of the period of the Empire. The 
cathedral, an early Romanesque structure, bears the date 
of 1052. It contains a remarkable bell, which shows by its 
date that it was placed here about four hundred years ago. 




Page 321. 



TOWER OF THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 32 1 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WE shall speak only incidentally of London ; to 
describe such a mammoth city even superficially 
would require an entire volume. It is situated on the 
river Thames, fifty miles from its mouth, containing a 
population of about five millions. It is consequently the 
largest metropolis in the world. Many of the older streets 
are confused, narrow, and intricate, but the modern por- 
tion of the city consists of broad, straight thoroughfares 
and fine substantial buildings. No capital is better sup- 
plied with public parks, the most notable being Hyde 
Park, covering about four hundred acres in the heart of 
London, and forming the most popular promenade and 
drive during the favorite hours of the day, when there is 
always a brilliant display of wealth and fashion. 

It was in existence at the time of Caesar's invasion and 
has flourished ever since. Of the many churches, new 
and old, that known as Westminster Abbey is the most 
interesting, being the shrine of England's illustrious dead. 
It has been a sacred temple and a royal sepulchre for 
many centuries ; but the towers were completed by the 
famous English architect, Sir Christopher Wren, who also 
designed St. Paul's Cathedral, the grandest structure of 
its kind in the country. Old St. Paul's was destroyed 
by fire in 1665-6. A Christian church has occupied the 
same site from a very early period. The present edifice 



322 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

is five hundred feet long and more than one-fourth as 
wide. The height of the dome to the top of the cross 
is over three hundred and sixty feet, while the grand and 
harmonious proportions of the whole are beyond descrip- 
tion. The Houses of Parliament form a very imposing 
architectural pile. The Victoria Tower is seventy-five 
feet square and nearly three hundred and fifty feet high. 
The clock-tower is forty feet square and three hundred 
and eighteen feet high. The face of the clock, placed at 
this great elevation, must be very large to be discernible 
upon the street, and is twenty-three feet in diameter. 

The British Museum is a noble institution, both in its 
object and its general appearance. Its front measures 
three hundred and seventy feet in length, the central por- 
tion being decorated with a grand line of lofty columns 
in the Ionic style. These columns are five feet in diam- 
eter and forty-five feet in height. The collection of Greek 
and Roman antiquities, curiosities from all parts of the 
world, and valuable relics, undoubtedly exceed in interest 
and comprehensiveness any other similar museum. The 
library contains over a million volumes and thousands of 
precious manuscripts. The National Gallery of Paintings 
on Trafalgar Square has been formed at an enormous ex- 
pense, and is worthy of the great metropolis, though it is 
exceeded in the number of examples and in the individual 
merit of many of the paintings by some of the conti- 
nental galleries of Europe. The Zoological Garden, ad- 
joining Regent's Park, is one of the great attractions to 
strangers, and of never-failing interest to the people, 
being probably the most complete and extensive collec- 
tion of wild and domestic animals, quadrupeds, birds, 
and reptiles in the world. Regent's Park is even larger 




i« 




yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 323 

than Hyde Park. Besides these noble, health-dispensing 
parks, — these breathing-places for a dense population, — 
the metropolis is dotted here and there with large squares, 
varying in extent from four to six acres each. The most 
notable of these are Belgrave Square, Trafalgar Square, 
Grosvenor Square, Portman Square, Eaton Square, and 
Russell Square. 

Twelve bridges other than railroad bridges cross the river 
Thames within the city boundary. The largest manufactur- 
ing interest in London is that of the breweries, wherein 
eleven million bushels of malt are annually consumed. 

Buckingham Palace, the town residence of Queen Vic- 
toria, occupies a location facing St. James's Park, and is a 
spacious building, but of no architectural pretention. The 
famous tower of London, according to tradition, was origi- 
nally built by Julius C?esar, and is situated on the east 
side of the city, on the left bank of the Thames. It is 
no longer used as a prison, but is a national armory and 
museum of warlike implements of antiquity. London has 
an underground railway running beneath the streets and 
houses by means of tunnels, and also through cuttings 
between high walls, forming a complete belt round the 
inner sections of the city, while branch lines diverge to 
the suburbs. Statistics show that the railway company 
which controls the line conveys about eighty millions of 
passengers annually, at an average rate of twopence each, 
or four cents of our American currency, per trip. There 
are over fifty regularly licensed theatrical establishments 
in the city. The charitable organizations of London are 
on a scale commensurate with its great wealth and popu- 
lation, while its educational facilities are on an equally 
extensive scale. 



324 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Travellers who land in England at Holyhead, on their 
way to London, go to the great metropolis by way of 
Chester, which is one of the most interesting cities in 
Great Britain. It has a population of a little over thirty 
thousand, and retains more of its ancient character than 
any other city of England. The old defences have been 
carefully preserved, and charming views of the surrounding 
country may be enjoyed from the promenade which follows 
the course of the wall. Many of the houses are so con- 
structed that the second floors form a series of continuous 
galleries or covered ways for foot passengers, known as the 
" Rows." There is an ancient cathedral here of consider- 
able interest, rendered familiar by the numerous pictures 
of its several parts which have been so often published. 
One of the most popular race-courses in England is situ- 
ated just outside of the city walls of Chester. There is 
a fine modern Gothic residence in the environs, belonging 
to the Marquis of Westminster, known as Eaton Hall, and 
which people travel long distances to see, as it is consid- 
ered one of the finest structures of its kind in the kingdom, 

A railway journey of a hundred miles from London 
takes us into a beautiful portion of rural England, to that 
pleasant watering-place, the town of Leamington, where 
some natural springs exist which are believed to possess 
certain medical jDroperties. There is a resident population 
of twenty thousand, which is largely increased during the 
attractive season of the year. This neighborhood is not 
only remarkable in a historical point of view, but also for 
the rural beauty and quiet charms of its scenery. There 
is here a public garden of twelve or fifteen acres in the 
middle of the town, under a high condition of cultivation. 

It is but a short trip by rail from Leamington to Kenil- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 325 

worth Castle, or rather to its ruins. We need not narrate 
the historical associations of this place. Scott, in his ad- 
mirable novel, " Kenilworth," has rendered the reading 
world familiar with it. The bare and crumbling walls are 
an eloquent monument of the days of chivalry. The cas- 
tle is said to have been sufficiently extensive to have ac- 
commodated on one occasion Queen Elizabeth and four 
hundred lords and ladies attached to her household. It 
was left to the charming pen of Sir Walter Scott to fix 
the history of the time and place upon the memory more 
effectually than could be done by the pages of the pro- 
fessed historian. 

From Leamington we may also make an excursion to 
Warwick Castle, one of the grandest and best preserved of 
mediaeval structures to be seen in Great Britain, and which 
is occupied by the present Earl of Warwick. This relic of 
the past, perhaps quite as ancient as Kenilworth, of which 
only the ruins remain, is in a condition of perfect preser- 
vation, and we believe it has never ceased to be occupied 
by representatives or descendants of the same family. The 
castle contains a museum of antiquity, including a great 
variety of armor, battle-axes, swords, flags, and war imple- 
ments generally, which were used by the ancestors of the 
present earl. There are some choice paintings in the 
spacious halls, while from the windows views may be en- 
joyed, fully depicting the beauties of English rural scenery. 

Stratford-on-Avon — the birthplace of Shakespeare — 
is within a short distance by rail : it contains some four 
thousand inhabitants. Few foreign travellers fail to visit 
Stratford. We come to the suggestive spot on a bright, 
sunny day, and hasten at once to the old church where 
rest the mortal remains of Shakespeare. Just back of this 



326 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

ancient Gothic structure flows the quiet Avon in the same 
bed where it has ghded for centuries. A group of hay- 
makers lying idly upon the grass on the opposite bank are 
gossiping away the noon hour ; a fisherman with pole and 
line is daintily sovmding the shady nooks of the peaceful 
river ; a few white swans glide gracefully in the shadow 
of the overhanging willows, while in the middle distance a 
flock of sheep nibble the rich green herbage. We find the 
interior of the church but little superior in architecture and 
ornamentation to most country churches. The tomb of 
the poet is in the chancel. Just over the grave, in a niche 
of the wall, is a bust of Shakespeare, which was placed 
there shortly after his death, and which is believed to be a 
good and true likeness of the original. He died at the 
comparatively early age of fifty-three. We take refresh- 
ment at the Red Horse Inn, rendered famous by Wash- 
ington Irving, stroll thoughtfully through the quaint old 
village, and visit, with thrilling interest, the house in which 
Shakespeare was born. 

From this remarkable vicinity we take passage over the 
Great Northern Railroad, by way of Preston and Carlisle, 
finally reaching Edinburgh, the thriving and pleasant cap- 
ital of Scotland. 

It is a peculiarly formed city, being built on three paral- 
lel ridges of considerable elevation, and is remarkable for 
the general excellence and elegance of its architecture. The 
older portion of the city is situated upon the loftiest of the 
ridges, and on which the houses rise to the height of nine 
and ten stories along the edges and on the steep slopes. 
The streets in the old town are narrow and irregular. The 
newer section occupies a lower ridge, being separated from 
the old by a valley which is improved as a public garden 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 327 

and for business purposes. The public and private build- 
ings are mostly constructed of a white stone resembling 
marble, which is quarried in the neighborhood. The pop- 
ulation numbers about three hundred thousand, occupying 
a territory which measures just about two square miles. 
The longest street commences at the Palace of Holyrood 
and ends at Castle Hill, upon the summit of which is 
Edinburgh Castle, standing four hundred and fifty feet 
above the level of the sea. 

This might appropriately be called the city of monu- 
ments. Among the most prominent are statues to Sir 
Walter Scott, Nelson, Playfair, Professor Wilson, Allan 
Ramsay, the Duke of Wellington, and Robert Burns. 
Scott's monument stands quite by itself on Princes Street, 
and rises to two hundred feet in height. P"ew monuments 
in the world equal this Gothic structure in architectural 
beauty. The citizens of Edinburgh may well be proud of 
their numerous educational institutions and charitable 
establishments, in which departments of noble liberality no 
city in Great Britain can surpass the Scotch metropolis. 
Near by Holyrood Palace are the ruins of the ancient 
abbey of the same name, founded by David I. nearly eight 
hundred years ago. In its chapel Queen Mary was married 
to Lord Darnley. In visiting the castle on the hill we are 
shown the small room wherein Queen Mary became the 
mother of James VI., who was afterwards king of England. 
The royal infant was lowered from the window of the lit- 
tle chamber in a basket, when friends received it and thus 
saved it from its scheming enemies. 

In the High Street we visit the house where John Knox, 
the great Scottish reformer, lived. Close by, in White 
Horse Close, is the inn where Dr. Johnson lodged in 



328 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

1773, while in the churchyard hard by are the rjraves of 
Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart. It is not possible to 
feel indifferent to such associations. No grander figure 
can be found in the history of the Reformation than that 
of John Knox. His biography reads like a romance. 
Whether serving a two years' sentence in the French 
galleys, enduring a siege in the castle of St. Andrews, 
being tried for treason by order of Queen Mary, haranguing 
from the pulpit against what he considered false religion- 
ists, or having his steps dogged by assassins, Knox never 
swerved from what he believed to be the path of duty. 

In the immediate environs of the city, to the south of 
Holyrood, are Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat, always 
visited by strangers, besides being a favorite resort of the 
citizens of Edinburgh. There is a fine road-way which 
surrounds Arthur's Seat, known as " The Queen's Drive." 
Scott made this vicinity of more than passing interest by 
his " Heart of Mid-Lothian," and the local guides point 
out the spot where Jeanie Deans is represented to have 
met Robertson. The "Queen's Drive" affords from 
several points charmingly comprehensive views. 

A drive of twenty miles through the hills and plains 
lying to the southeast of the city will take us to Melrose, 
a place only noted for its famous ruins of the Abbey. It 
was founded by David I., in 11 36, for monks of the Cis- 
tercian order, and rebuilt in an elaborate and elegant style 
between the reign of Robert Bruce and James IV. It was 
the finest church, as it is the noblest ruin, in Scotland. 
Scott has rendered us familiar with it. From here we 
drive to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter, and which is 
still kept exactly in the condition in which the poet left it 
on the day of his death. We wander through the house, 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 329 

lingering in the library, sit in the chair before the table 
where he sat and wrote in prose and poetry ; we examine 
the curious collection of armor and the various historical 
mementos which he gathered about him, among which 
are weapons once owned by Rob Roy and the Douglas, 
and those of other real characters about whom his genius 
has woven such romantic interest. Abbotsford House is 
large, imposing, and beautifully situated, the ,spacious 
grounds which are attached to it sloping gracefully down 
to the banks of the river Tweed, beyond which rise the 
beautiful Selkirk Hills. 

In travelling about the rural districts of Scotland in the 
vicinity of Edinburgh, one is impressed by the thrifty 
appearance of the country, which seems to be cultivated 
with great care. We see many flocks of sheep. There is 
not much attempt at what is called gardening, but a few 
staples in grain are depended upon, and much attention is 
given to the raising of sheep, horses, and cattle. The men 
and women are of a strong, vigorous type, hospitable and 
kindly. The national characteristics of the Scotch exhibit 
themselves in the simplest transactions. They are a re- 
markably intelligent and well-educated people ; steady- 
going, plodding, economical, very set in their ways and 
opinions, being rather slow according to American ideas, 
but uncommonly sure and reliable. 

Glasgow differs from Edinburgh in many respects. Its 
situation is low, and the view is obstructed by a multipli- 
city of tall, smoky chimneys, with other tokens of manu- 
facturing industry. It is the most populous city of Scotland, 
having over half a million of inhabitants, and is located on 
the banks of the river Clyde. Except in the manufacturing 
parts of the town, the architecture and streets are fine and 



330 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

attractive. Dressed freestone is the material most com- 
monly used in the construction of the best dwelling-houses 
and the public buildings. The river is crossed by five 
noble bridges, — two of granite, one of iron, — and two are 
suspension bridges. The city reminds one forcibly of 
Pittsburgh in America. The chemical works, foundries, 
and workshops of all kinds, using such quantities of bitu- 
minous or soft coal, create an atmosphere of a dense, 
smoky character. 

Glasgow contains four large and beautifully kept parks. 
The city is over a thousand years old, but we have no re- 
cord of its earliest three or four centuries. Situated in 
the midst of a district abounding in coal and iron, and 
upon a river which insures it world-wide commerce, 
maritime enterprise has been a natural result. Here 
James Watt made his memorable improvements in the 
steam-engine, and here Henry Bell first demonstrated in 
the Old World the practicability of steam navigation. 
This was in 1812, four years after Fulton's successful 
experiments upon the Hudson River in this country, but of 
which Bell seems to have had no knowledge. Glasgow has 
many handsome and substantial blocks of dwelling-houses. 
Buchanan Street and Queen Street are both remarkably 
elegant thoroughfares ; the former especially is notable 
for its large and attractive stores. Argyle Street is very 
broad and two miles long, one of the finest avenues in 
Great Britain. Here, as in Edinburgh, there are numerous 
' public monuments, among which we observe the eques- 
trian statues of William HI., the Duke of Wellington, in 
front of the Royal Exchange ; and that of Queen Victoria, 
in George's Square. There is also an obelisk one hundred 
and forty feet high, erected to the honor of Nelson, besides 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 33 1 

others of Sir Walter Scott, Sir John Moore, Jan^es Watt, 
Sir Robert Peel, etc. 

There are two chimneys in the city designed to carry 
off the poisonous gases from the chemical works, which 
are respectively four hundred and sixty, and four hundred 
and fifty feet in height, the latter carrying off the vapor from 
St. Rollox, the largest chemical manufactory in the world. 
These buildings cover fifteen acres of ground, and the 
works give employment to over a thousand men. Cotton 
factories are also numerous here, and calico-printing es- 
tablishments. Beer-brewing is one of the largest branches 
of manufacture, as it is also in London. In the building 
of iron steamships the port of Glasgow leads the world. 
For a long time there was an average of one steamer a 
day launched on the banks of the Clyde, in the vicinity, 
though this number is not quite kept up at the present 
time. Clyde steamers have a high reputation, and are 
given the preference for durability and general excellence 
of workmanship. 

Greenock, with a population of about fifty thousand, is 
one of the finest seaports in Scotland, having also a large 
business in iron ship-building. This was the native place 
of James Watt, already spoken of, and here we observe 
an admirable statue reared to his memory. The city is 
situated a little over twenty miles from Glasgow, on the 
Firth of Clyde. From here we take passage in a steamer 
across the Irish Sea to Belfast, the principal city of North- 
ern Ireland. 

Belfast has a population of about two hundred thousand, 
and next to Dublin is the most important city of the coun- 
try. It is comparatively modern, its tall chimneys, large 
factories, and spinning-mills speaking intelligibly of mate- 



332 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

rial prosperity. Queen's College is a large structure in 
the Tudor style, with a frontage of six hundred feet in 
length. There is an admirable museum on College Square 
containing a large collection of Irish antiquities. We also 
find an excellent botanical garden here, and there are no 
better school facilities in the United Kingdom than are to 
be enjoyed in this metropolis of Northern Ireland. From 
Cave Hill, in the suburbs, an elevation over a thousand feet 
in height, a most admirable view of the city and its sur- 
roundings may be enjoyed, the coast of Scotland being 
visible on the far horizon. The streets of Belfast are 
regular, broad, and cleanly, and many of the public build- 
ings are superb in architectural effect. The city hall, the 
custom house, the Ulster Bank, and Linen Hall are all 
noble structures. This is the great headquarters of the 
Irish linen trade. 

A short journey of about a hundred miles due south by 
railway will bring us to Dublin, the capital of Ireland. It 
has a population of about four hundred thousand, and is 
situated on the shore of Dublin Bay, with the river Liffey 
flowing through its centre. It is an attractive city with 
very beautiful surroundings. There are many grand pub- 
lic buildings, several large parks, a number of interesting- 
old churches, and a cathedral, — St. Patrick's, — connected 
with which are the associations of six centuries. The 
remains of Dean Swift are buried here. Near by is the 
house where Thomas Moore, the poet, was born, and not 
far away is the birthplace of the Duke of Wellington. 
Dublin has its public library, its museulii, its Royal College 
of Surgeons, and its famous Trinity College, where Gold- 
smith, Swift, Burke, and many others graduated. It has also 
many noble charitable organizations and societies for the 



. yOURMEYlNGB IN MANY LANDS. 333 

diffusion of science. The zoological garden is one of the 
most extensive in Great Britain. Dublin Castle is near 
the centre of the city, on slightly elevated ground, contain- 
ing an armory, a chapel, and various government offices. 
This city claims great antiquity, having existed as a capital 
since the days of Ptolemy. It was for centuries held by 
the Danes; in 1169 it was taken by the English under 
Strongbow, whose remains lie in Christ Church Cathedral. 

From Dublin we take passage on board of a steamer for 
Liverpool, the commercial metropolis of England, which 
contains about seven hundred thousand inhabitants. It is 
situated on the river Mersey, four miles from the sea. To 
the traveller it presents few attractions save those of a 
great shipping depot, which is unsurpassed in the depart- 
ment of maritime enterprise. 

The moral and physical character of the population, 
taken in mass, is rather low, though the city has many 
institutions and associations designed to promote intelli- 
gence and to fulfil all charitable demands. The exhibi- 
tions of intemperance to be met with upon the streets at 
all hours forms a disgraceful picture of humanity, in which 
respect Liverpool seems to be more sadly afflicted than are 
the lowest sections of London. 

From here we sail for Nassau, New Providence, a 
British possession in the Bahama Islands, lying north- 
east from Cuba, the largest of the West Indian Islands. 



334 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

UPON landing at Nassau we find everything quite 
different from our late experiences in the large Eu- 
ropean cities, and are brought face to face with nature, — 
with a tropical race and with tropical vegetation. Instead 
of palatial edifices we have low native huts, while the peo- 
ple we meet have the bronzed hue of Africans. This island, 
which was settled by Europeans as early as 1629, contains 
nearly a hundred square miles. The town has a small free 
library, several churches, a hospital, and a bank. 

It seems singular that an island like New Providence, 
which is almost without soil, should be so productive in 
vegetation. It is surrounded by low-lying coral reefs, and 
is itself of the same formation. In a pulverized condition 
this limestone forms the earth out of which spring palm, 
banana, ceba, orange, lemon, tamarind, mahogany, and 
cocoanut trees, with various others, besides an almost 
endless variety of flowers. Science teaches us that all 
soils are but broken and decomposed rock pulverized by 
various agencies acting through long periods of time. So 
the molten lava which once poured from the fiery mouth 
of Vesuvius has become the soil of thriving vineyards 
which produce the choice grapes whence is made the 
priceless Lachryma Cristi wine of Naples. This transfor- 
mation of lava into soil is not accomplished in the period 
of a single life. 

The luscious pineapple, zapota, mango, pomegranate, 



yoURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 335 

citron, custard-apple, and other fruits captivate the palate 
of the stranger, while the profuseness and variety of beauti- 
ful ferns and orchids delight the eye of the northerner. 
The negroes are mostly engaged in cultivating pineapples, 
yams, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables, and a large 
number of the males employ themselves in fishing and 
gathering sponges. From this locality comes the largest 
supply of coarse sponge which is used in England and 
America. There is also a considerable trade carried on 
in fine turtle-shell, which is polished in an exquisite man- 
ner by the patient natives. The Bahama sponges are not 
equal to those obtained in the Mediterranean. But they 
are marketable for certain uses, and Nassau exports half a 
million dollars' worth annually. It is said that sponges 
can be propagated by cuttings taken from living speci- 
mens, which, when properly attached to a piece of board 
and sunk in the sea, will increase and multiply. Thus the 
fine Mediterranean sponge can be successfully transported 
to the coral reefs of the Bahamas. 

A short drive or walk inland over smooth roads, formed 
of smooth, levelled coral rocks, brings us to the extensive 
pineapple fields, where this handsome fruit may be seen in 
the several stages of growth, varying according to the sea- 
son of the year and the purposes of its use. If intended for 
exportation, the fruit is gathered when well-grown but 
still in a green state; if designed for canning, — that is, pre- 
serving, — the riper it is, the better it is adapted to the pur- 
pose. Great quantities are put in tin cans carefully sealed 
for use in this and other countries. The visitor is sure to 
be impressed by the beauty and grace of the cocoanut- 
trees, their plume of leaves, often sixty feet from the 
ground, notwithstanding that the bare stem or trunk is 
rarely over two feet in thickness. 



336 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

There are said to be six hundred of the Bahama Islands, 
large and small, of which Nassau is the capital, and here 
the English governor-general resides. Many are mere 
rocky islets, and not more than twenty have fixed inhabi- 
tants. The sea-gardens, as they are called, situated just 
off the shore of the main island, are extremely interesting. 
We go out a short distance in a row-boat, and by means 
of a simple contrivance of wood and glass we can look 
many fathoms below the surface of the sea. These 
water-glasses are easily made, being formed of a small 
wooden box three or four inches square, open at the top 
and having a water-tight glass bottom. With the glass 
portion slightly submerged one is able to see distinctly 
the beautiful coral reefs with their marvellous surround- 
ings. There are displayed tiny caves and grottoes of 
white coral, star-fishes, sea-urchins, growing sponges, sea- 
fans, and bright-colored fishes, including the humming- 
bird fish, and others like butterflies with mottled fins and 
scales, together with that little oddity, the rainbow-fish. 
The prevailing color of this attractive creature is dark 
green, but the tinted margins of its scales so reflect the 
light as to show all the colors of the rainbow, and hence 
its name. When bottled in alcohol for preservation, these 
fish lose their native colors. This unique display is en- 
hanced in beauty by the clearness of these waters, and the 
reflected lights from the snow-white sandy bottom, which 
is dotted here and there by delicate shells of various 
shapes and colors. One longs to descend among these 
coral bowers, — these mermaid gardens, — and pluck a 
bouquet of the submarine flora in its purple, yellow, and 
scarlet freshness. 

The surface life of these clear waters is also extremely 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 337 

interesting. Here the floating jelly-fish, called from its 
phosphorescence the glow-worm of the sea, is observed 
in great variety, sheltering little colonies of young fishes, 
which rush forth for a moment to capture some passing 
mite, and as quickly return again to their cover. If we 
take up a handful of the floating gulf-weed, we find with- 
in the pale yellow leaves and berries, tiny pipe-fish, sea- 
horses, and specimens of the little nest-bmlding fishes. 
Thus this curious weed forms a home for parasites, crabs, 
and shell-fishes, being itself a sort of mistletoe of the ocean. 
The young of the mackerel and the herring glide rapidly 
about in shoals, just below the surface, near the shore, 
like myriad pieces of silver. Verily there would seem to 
be more of animal life below than above the surface of the 
waters, which is not an unreasonable conclusion when it 
is remembered that the whole surface of the globe is sup- 
posed to have an area of about two hundred million 
square miles, and that of these only about fifty millions 
are composed of dry land. 

Much of the drinking-water, and certainly the best 
in use at Nassau, as well as on some of the neighboring 
islands, is procured in a remarkable manner from the sea. 
Not far from shore, on the coral reefs, there are never- 
failing fresh-water springs, bubbling up from the bottom 
through the salt water with such force as to clearly in- 
dicate their locality. Over these ocean springs the peo- 
ple place sunken barrels filled with sand, one above an- 
other, the bottoms and tops being first removed. The 
fresh water is thus conducted to the surface through the 
column of sand, which acts as a filter, the water being 
sweet and palatable, as well as remarkable for its crystal 
clearness. So on the arid shores of the Persian Gulf, 



338 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

where rain seldom falls, and where there are no rills to re- 
fresh the parched soil, fresh water is obtained from springs 
beneath the sea. There it is brought to the surface by 
employing divers, who descend with leather bags. The 
mouth of a bag is placed over the bubbling spring, 
quickly filled and closed again, being then drawn to the 
surface by persons awaiting the signal from the diver, 
who then hastens to rise for needed air. There is no 
mystery as to the source of these springs. The rain falls 
on the distant mountains, and finding its way through the 
rocky ledges, pursues its course until it gushes forth in the 
bed of the gulf. 

A fortnightly steamer from New York, bound for Cuba, 
touches at Nassau on the southward trip to leave the mail, 
and we will avail ourselves of this opportunity to visit the 
"Queen of the Antilles," as this island is called. At first 
we steam to the north for half a day, in order to find a safe 
channel out of the Bahamas, vv^here there is more of shoal 
than of navigable waters, and as we do so, we leave many 
islands behind us inhabited only by turtles, flamingoes, 
and sea-birds. But we are soon steaming due south again 
towards our destination, namely, the island of Cuba, five 
hundred miles away. San Salvador is sighted on our star- 
board bow (right-hand side), the spot where Columbus 
first landed in the New World. It will be found laid 
down on most English maps as Cat Island, and is now the 
home of two or three thousand colored people, the de- 
scendants of imported Africans. The island is nearly as 
large as New Providence. It is said that the oranges 
grown here are the sweetest and best that are known. 
The voyager in these latitudes is constantly saluted by 
gentle breezes full of tropical fragrance, intensified in 



JOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 339 

effect by the distant view of cocoanut, palmetto, and ba- 
nana trees, clothing the islands in a mantle of green, down 
to the very water's edge. As we glide along, gazing shore- 
ward, now and again little groups of swallows seem to be 
flitting a few feet above the waves, then suddenly disap- 
pearing beneath the water. These are flying-fish enjoy- 
ing an air-bath, either in frolic or in fear ; pursued possibly 
by some dreaded enemy in the sea, which they are trying 
to escape. 

It is interesting to remain on deck at night and watch 
the heavens as we glide through the phosphorescent sea. 
Is it possible that the moon, whose light renders objects 
so plain that one can see to read small print, shines solely 
by borrowed light .'' We know it to be so, and also that 
Venus, Mars, and perhaps Jupiter and Saturn shine in a 
similar manner with light reflected from the sun. It is 
interesting to adjust the telescope, and bring the starry 
system nearer to the vision. If we direct our gaze upon a 
planet, we find its disk or face sharply defined ; change the 
direction, and let the object-glass rest upon a star, and we 
have only a point of light more or less brilliant. The 
glass reveals to us the fact that the "star-dust" which we 
call the Milky Way is an accumulation of innumerable 
single stars. Sweeping the blue expanse with the tele- 
scope, we find some stars are golden, some green, others 
purple, many silvery white, and some are twins. Our use 
of the words "first and second magnitude" relates mainly 
to distance. It is most likely only a question of distance 
which regulates our vision or capacity for seeing, and 
which makes these "lamps of the sky" look larger or 
smaller to us. 

When the lonely lighthouse which marks Cape Maysi, 



340 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

at the eastern point of Cuba, comes into view on the star- 
board bow, the dim form of the mountains of Hayti are 
visible on the opposite horizon. A subterranean connec- 
tion is believed to exist between the mountain ranges of 
the two islands. We are now running through the Wind- 
ward Passage, as it is called ; by which one branch of the 
Gulf Stream finds its way northward. The Gulf Stream ! 
Who can explain satisfactorily its ceaseless current } What 
keeps its tepid waters, in a course of thousands of miles, 
from mingling with the rest of the sea } And finally 
whence does it come } Maury, the great nautical author- 
ity, says the Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth 
is the Arctic Sea. The maps make the eastern shore of 
Cuba terminate as sharp as a needle's point, but it proves 
to be very blunt in reality, where it forms one side of the 
gateway to the Caribbean Sea, and where the irregular 
coast line runs due north and south for the distance of 
many leagues. 

The nights are mostly clear, soft, and lovely in this 
region. As we double Cape Maysi, and the ship is headed 
westward, the Southern Cross and the North Star blaze in 
the opposite horizons at the same time, the constellation 
on our port side (left-hand), and the North Star on the 
starboard side. Each day at noon the captain and his 
officers determine the exact position of the ship by "taking 
the sun," as it is termed. When the sun reaches the 
meridian, that is, the point directly overhead, the exact 
moment is indicated b_, the nautical instrument known as 
a quadrant, adjusted to the eye of the observer. The 
figures marked on the quadrant give the latitude of the 
ship at the moment of meridian. The ship's time is then 
made to correspond, — that is to say, it must indicate twelve 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 34 1 

o'clock noon, — after which it is compared with an exact 
timepiece called a chronometer, which keeps Greenwich 
(English) time, and the difference enables the observer to 
determine the longitude. As fifteen miles are allowed to 
the minute, there will be nine hundred miles to the hour. 
Thus, by means of the chronometer and the quadrant, the 
saihng-master is enabled to designate his exact situation 
upon the ocean chart. 

Soon after passing the remarkably sheltered port of 
Guantanamo, which was for nearly a century the most 
notorious piratical rendezvous in the West Indies, the 
famous castle of Santiago is seen. It is called Moro 
Castle, but it is older than the better-known Moro of 
Havana, by nearly a hundred years. This antique, yellow, 
Moorish-looking stronghold, which modern gunnery would 
destroy in ten minutes or less, is picturesque to the last 
degree, with its crumbling, honey-combed battlements, and 
queer little flanking towers. It is built upon the face of a 
lofty, dun-colored rock, upon whose precipitous side the 
fortification is terraced. Its position is just at the entrance 
of the narrow river leading to the city, six or eight miles 
away, so that in passing up the channel one can speak 
from the ship's deck to any one who might be standing on 
the outer battlement of the Moro. 

The winding channel which leads from the sea to the 
harbor passes through low hills and broad meadows 
covered with rank verdure, cocoanut groves, and fishing 
hamlets. Thrifty palms and intensely green bananas line 
the way, with here and there upon the pleasant banks a 
charming country-house in the midst of a garden fragrant 
with flowers. So close is the shore all the while that one 
seems to be navigating upon the land, gliding among trees 



342 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

and over greensward rather than upon blue water. Steam^ 
ing slowly up the Santiago River, we presently pass a sharp 
angle of the hills, leading into a broad sheltered bay, upon 
whose banks stands the rambling old city of Santiago de 
Cuba, built on a hillside like Tangier, in Africa, and it is 
almost as Oriental as the capital of Morocco. The first 
and most conspicuous objects to meet the eye are the twin 
towers of the ancient cathedral, which have withstood so 
many earthquakes. 

This city, once the capital of the island of Cuba, was 
founded by Velasquez, and is now gray with age and decay. 
The many- colored, one-story houses are ranged in narrow 
streets, which cross each other at right angles with con- 
siderable regularity, though the roadways are in an almost 
impassable condition. They were once paved with cobble- 
stones, but are now dirty and neglected, a stream of 
offensive water flowing through their centres, in which 
little naked children, blacks and whites, are at play. 
No wonder that such numbers die here annually of yel- 
low fever. The surprise is that it does not prevail all the 
year round. 

Santiago dates back to the year 15 14, making it the old- 
est city in the New World, next to San Domingo. From 
here Cortez sailed in 15 18 to invade Mexico. Here has 
been the seat of modern rebellion against the arbitrary 
and bitterly oppressive rule of the home government of 
Spain. The city contains over forty thousand inhabitants, 
and is situated six hundred miles southeast of Havana ; 
after Matanzas, it comes next in commercial importance, 
its exports reaching the annual aggregate of eight millions 
of dollars. After climbing and descending these narrow, 
dirty . streets of Santiago, and watching the local charac- 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 343 

teristics for a few hours, one is glad to go on board ship 
again, and leave it all behind. 

To reach Cienfuegos, our next destination, we take water 
conveyance, the common roads in this district being, if 
possible, a degree worse than elsewhere on the island. 
It is necessary to double Cape Cruz and make a coasting 
voyage along the southern shore of the island, for a dis- 
tance of four hundred miles. This is really delightful 
sailing in any but the hurricane months ; that is, between 
the middle of August and the middle of October. 

Cienfuegos has some twenty-five thousand inhabitants, 
a large percentage of whom speak English, nine-tenths of 
its commerce being with this country. It was in this im- 
mediate neighborhood, as Columbus tells us, on the occa- 
sion of his second voyage from Spain, that he saw with 
astonishment the mysterious king who spoke to his people 
only by signs, and that group of men who wore long white 
tunics like the monks of mercy, while the rest of the 
people were entirely naked. The town is low and level, 
occupying a broad plain. The streets are wide and clean, 
while the harbor is an excellent and spacious one. It is 
pitiful to behold such an array of beggars, and it is strange, 
too, in so small a city. Here the maimed, the halt, and 
the blind meet us at every turn. Saturday is the harvest 
day for beggars in Cuban cities, on which occasion they 
go about by scores from door to door, carrying a large 
canvas bag. Each well-to-do family and shop is supplied 
on this day with a quantity of small rolls of bread, one of 
which is almost invariably given to any beggar who calls, 
and thus the mendicant's bag presently becomes full of 
rolls. These, mixed with a few vegetables, bits of fish, 
and sometimes meat and bones, are boiled into a soup 



344 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

which at least keeps soul and body together in the poor 
creatures until another Saturday comes round. 

Cienfuegos is in the centre of a great sugar-producing 
district. Sugar-cane is cultivated much like Indian corn, 
which it also resembles in appearance. It is first planted 
in rows and weeded until it gets high enough to shade its 
roots, after which it is left pretty much to itself until it 
reaches maturity. This refers to the first laying out of a 
plantation, which will afterwards continue to throw up 
fresh stalks from the roots, with a little help from the hoe, 
for several years. When ripe the cane is of a light golden 
yellow, streaked here and there with red. The top is dark 
green, with long narrow leaves depending, — very much 
like those of corn, — from the centre of which shoots 
upward a silvery stem fifteen or eighteen inches in height, 
and from the tip grows a white-fringed plume. The effect 
of a large field at maturity lying under a torrid sun, and 
gently yielding to the breeze, is very fine. 

Though the modern machinery for crushing, grinding, 
and extracting the sugar from the cane as lately adopted on 
the Cuban plantations is expensive, still the result obtained 
is so much superior to that of the old methods, that small 
planters are being driven from the market. The low price of 
sugar and the great competition in its production renders 
economy in the manufacture quite necessary, especially 
now that slave labor is abolished. 

, The delightful climate is exemplified by the abundance 
and variety of fruits and flowers. Let us visit a private 
garden in the environs of the city. Here the mango with 
its peach-like foliage is found, bending to the ground with 
the weight of its ripening fruit ; the alligator-pear is won- 
derfully beautiful in its blossom, suggesting in form and 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 345 

color the passion-flower ; the soft, delicate foliage of the 
tamarind is like our sensitive plant ; the banana-trees are 
in full bearing, the deep green fruit (it is ripened and 
turns yellow off the tree), being in clusters of nearly a 
hundred, tipped at the same time by a single, pendent, 
glutinous bud nearly as large as a pineapple. Here we 
see also the star-apple-tree, remarkable for its uniform 
and graceful shape, full of green fruit, with here and there 
a ripening specimen. The zapota, in its rusty coat, hangs 
in tempting abundance. From low, broad-spreading trees 
hangs the grape fruit, as large as a baby's head and 
yellow as gold ; while the orange and lemon trees, bearing 
blossoms, and green and ripening fruit all together, serve to 
charm the eye and to fill the garden with rich fragrance. 

Let us examine one of these products in detail, selecting 
the banana as being the most familiar to us at the north. 
It seems that the female banana-tree (for we must remem- 
ber that there are sexes in the vegetable as well as in the 
animal kingdom), bears more fruit than the male, but not 
so large. The average clusters of the former comprise 
about one hundred, but the latter rarely bears over sixty 
or seventy distinct specimens of this finger-shaped fruit. 
The stem grows to about ten feet in height ; from the 
centre of its broad leaves, which gather palm-like at the 
top, there springs forth a large purple bud ten inches long, 
shaped like a huge acorn, though more pointed. This 
cone-like bud hangs suspended from a strong stem, upon 
which a leaf unfolds, displaying a cluster of young fruit. 
As soon as these are large enough to support the heat of 
the sun and the chill of the night dews, the sheltering leaf 
drops off, and another unfolds, exposing its little brood of 
fruit ; and so the process goes on until six or eight rings 



346 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

of young bananas are started, which gradually develop to 
full size. The banana is a plant which dies down to the 
ground after fruiting, but it annually sprouts again from 
the same roots. 

We will continue our journey towards Havana by way 
of Matanzas, crossing the island so as to penetrate at once 
into a section of luxuriant tropical nature, where we see 
the cactus in great variety, flowering trees, and ever- 
graceful palms, with occasional trees of the ceba family 
grown to vast size. Vegetation here, unlike human beings, 
seems never to grow old, never to falter in productiveness ; 
crop succeeds crop, harvest follows harvest ; it is an end- 
less cycle of abundance. Miles upon miles of the bright, 
golden sugar-cane lie in all directions ; among the planta- 
tions here and there is seen the little cluster of low build- 
ings constituting the laborers' quarters, and near by is the 
tall, white chimney of the sugar-mill, emitting its thick 
volume of smoke, like the funnel of a steamship. A little 
on one side stands the planter's house, low and white, sur- 
rounded by shade-trees and flower-plats. Scores of dusky 
Africans give life to the scene, and the overseer, on his 
little Cuban pony, dashes hither and thither to keep all 
hands advantageously at work. One large gang is busy 
cutting the ripe cane with sword-like knives ; some are 
loading the stalks upon ox-carts ; some are driving loads to 
the mill ; and some are feeding the cane between the great 
steel crushers, beneath which pours forth a continuous 
jelly-like stream which is conducted by iron pipes to the 
boilers. Men, women, and children are spreading the 
refuse to dry in the sun, after which it will be used as fuel 
beneath the boilers. Coopers are heading up hogsheads 
full of the manufactured article, and other laborers are 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 347 

rolling up empty ones to be filled. Formerly the overseers 
were never seen without the long-lashed whip, but slavery 
no longer exists as an institution. The negroes are free, 
though they work for very small wages. 

Occasionally in the trip across the island we pass 
through a crude but picturesque hamlet, having the 
mouldering stamp of antiquity, with low straggling houses 
built of rude frames, covered at side and roof with palm- 
bark and leaves. Chimneys, there are none, — none even 
in the cities, — charcoal being alone used, and all cooking 
is done in the open air. About the doors of the long, irreg- 
ular posada, or inn, a dozen saddle-horses are seen tied to 
a bar erected for the purpose, while their owners are 
smoking and drinking inside ; but there are no wheeled 
vehicles to be seen. The roads are only passable for men 
on foot or horseback. The people, the cabins, and the 
horses all are stained with the red dust of the soil, recall- 
ing our Western Indians in their war paint. This pigment, 
or colored dirt, penetrates and adheres to everything, fills 
the railroad cars, and decorates the passengers with a dingy 
brick color. It is difficult to realize that these compara- 
tively indifferent places through which we glide so swiftly 
are of any importance, and the permanent home of any 
one. When the cars stop at the small way-stations, they 
are instantly boarded by lottery-ticket sellers, boys with 
tempting fruit, green cocoanuts, ripe oranges, and bananas, 
all surprisingly cheap. Here, too, is the guava-seller, 
with neatly sealed tin cans of this favorite preserve. 
Indeed, it seems to rain guava jelly in Cuba. At a shanty 
beside the road where we stop at noon, a large mulatto 
woman retails coffee and island rum, while a score of 
native whites lounge about with slouched hats, hands in 



348 Foor-PRiNTS of travel; or, 

pockets, and puffing cigarettes, — pictures of idleness and 
indifference. 

Stray dogs hang about the car-wheels and track to pick 
up the crumbs which passengers throw away from their 
lunch-baskets. Just over the wild pineapple hedge close 
at hand, half a dozen naked negro children hover round 
the door of a low cabin ; the mother, fat and shining in her 
one garment, gazes with arms akimbo at the scene of which 
she forms a typical part. The engineer imbibes a penny 
drink of thin Cataline wine and hastens back to his post. 
The station bell rings, the steam whistle is sounded, and 
we are quickly on our way again, to repeat the picture six 
or eight leagues farther on. 

As we approach Matanzas, the scene undergoes a radical 
change. Comfortable habitations are multiplied, good 
roads appear winding gracefully about the country, and 
groves and gardens come into view with small dairy farms. 
Superb specimens of the royal palm begin to multiply 
themselves, always suggestive of the Corinthian column. 
Scattered about the scene a few handsome cattle are 
observed cropping the rank verdure. There is no green- 
sward in the tropics, grass is not cultivated, and hay is 
never made. Such fodder as is fed to domestic animals is 
cut green and brought into the city from day to day. 

Notwithstanding the ceaseless novelty of the scene, one 
becomes a little fatigued by the long, hot ride ; but as we 
draw nearer to Matanzas, the refreshing air from the Gulf 
suddenly comes to our relief, full of a bracing tonic which 
renders all things tolerable. The sight of the broad har- 
bor, under such circumstances, lying with its flickering, 
shimmering surface under the afternoon sun, is very beau- 
tiful to heboid. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 349 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE island of Cuba was discovered by Columbus, in 
October of the year 1492 ; the continent of America 
was not discovered until six years later, — that is, in 1498. 
Columbus and his followers found the land inhabited by a 
peculiar race ; hospitable, inoffensive, timid, fond of the 
dance, yet naturally indolent. They had some definite 
idea of God and heaven, and were governed by patriarchs 
whose age gave them precedence. They spoke the dialect 
of the Lucagos or Bahamas, from which islands it was 
thought they originated, but it would seem more reasonable 
to suppose that both the people of the Bahamas and of the 
West Indian islands originally came from the mainland ; that 
is, either from north or south of the Isthmus of Panama. 

The natives were at once subjected by the new-comers, 
who reduced them to a condition of slavery, and proving 
to be hard taskmasters, the poor overworked creatures 
died by hundreds, until they had nearly disappeared. 
They were of tawny complexion, and beardless, resembling 
in many respects our native Indians. As Columbus de- 
scribed them in his first letter sent to his royal patrons in 
Spain, they were " loving, tractable, and peaceable ; though 
entirely naked, their manners were decorous and praise- 
worthy." The wonderful fertility of the soil, its range of 
noble mountains, its widespread and well-watered plains, 
with its extended coast-line and excellent harbors, all chal- 
lenged the admiration of the discoverers, so that Columbus 



350 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

recorded in his journal these words : " It is the most beau- 
tiful island that the eyes of man ever beheld, full of excel- 
lent ports and deep rivers." 

The Spaniards were surprised to see the natives using 
rude pipes, in which they smoked a certain dried leaf with 
apparent gratification. Tobacco was native to the soil, and 
in the use of this now well-nigh universal narcotic, these 
simple savages indulged in an original luxury, or habit, 
which the Spanish invaders were not slow in acquiring. 

The flowers were strongly individualized. The frangi- 
panni, tall, and almost leafless, with thick, flesh-like shoots, 
and decked with a small, white blossom, was fragrant and 
abundant. Here, also, was the wild passion-flower, in 
which the Spaniards thought they beheld the emblem of 
our Saviour's passion. The golden-hued peta was found 
beside the myriad-flowering oleander and the night-bloom- 
ing cereus, while the luxuriant undergrowth was braided 
with the cactus and the aloe. They were also delighted 
by tropical fruits in confusing variety, of which they knew 
not even the names. 

This was four hundred years ago, and to-day the same 
flowers and the same luscious fruits grow upon the soil in 
similar abundance. Nature in this land of endless summer 
puts forth strange eagerness, ever running to fruits, flowers, 
and fragrance, as if they were outlets for her exuberant 
fancy. 

Diego Velasquez, the first governor of the island under 
Spanish rule, appears to have been an energetic magis- 
trate, and to have ruled affairs with intelligence. He 
did not live, hovv^ever, in a period when justice erred 
on the side of mercy, and his harsh and cruel treatment 
of the natives will always remain a blot upon his 



yOURNEYlNGS IN 31 ANY LANDS. 35 I 

memory. Emigration was fostered by the home govern- 
ment, and cities were estabhshed in the several divisions 
of the island ; but the new province was mainly considered 
in the light of a military station by the Spanish govern- 
ment in its operations against Mexico. Thus Cuba became 
the headquarters of the Spanish power in the west, form- 
ing the point of departure for those military expeditions 
which, though small in number, were yet so formidable in 
the energy of the leaders, and in the arms, discipline, 
courage, fanaticism, and avarice of their followers, that 
they were fully adequate to carry out the vast scheme of 
conquest for which they were designed. 

The Spaniards who invaded Mexico encountered a peo- 
ple who had attained a far higher degree of civilization 
than their red brethren of the outlying Caribbean Islands, 
or those of the northeastern portion of the continent, now 
forming the United States. Vast pyramids, imposing 
sculptures, curious arms, fanciful garments, various kinds 
of manufactures, filled the invaders with surprise. There 
was much which was curious and strange in their religion, 
while the capital of the Mexican empire presented a fas- 
cinating spectacle to the eyes of Cortez and his followers. 
The rocky amphitheatre in the midst of which it was built 
still remains, but the great lake which was its grandest 
feature, traversed by causeways and covered with floating 
gardens, is gone. The Aztec dynasty was doomed. In 
vain did the inhabitants of the conquered city, roused to 
madness by the cruelty and extortion of the victors, expel 
them from their midst. Cortez refused to flee further than 
the shore ; the light of his burning vessels rekindled the 
desperate valor of his followers, and Mexico fell, as a few 
years after did Peru beneath the sword of Pizarro, thus 



352 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

completing the scheme of conquest, and giving Spain a 
colonial empire more splendid than that of any power in 
Christendom. 

In the meantime, under numerous and often-changed 
captains-general, the island of Cuba increased in popula- 
tion by free emigration from Spain, and by the constant 
cruel importation of slaves from Africa. It may be said 
to have been governed by a military despotism from the 
outset to the present time, and nothing short of such an 
arbitrary rule could have maintained the connection be- 
tween the island and so exacting a mother country, situ- 
ated more than three thousand miles across the ocean. 

The form of the island is quite irregular, resembling the 
blade of a Turkish cimeter slightly curved back, or that of 
a long, narrow crescent. It stretches away in this shape 
from east to west, throwing its western end into a curve, 
and thus forming a partial barrier to the outlet of the Gulf 
of Mexico, as if at some ancient period it had been a part 
of the American continent, severed on its north side from 
the Florida Peninsula by the wearing of the Gulf Stream, 
and from Yucatan on its southwestern point by a current 
setting into the Gulf. Two channels are thus formed by 
which the Mexican Gulf is entered. 

One neither departs from nor approaches the Cuban 
shore without crossing that remarkable ocean-river to 
which we have so often referred in these pages, — the 
Gulf Stream, — with banks and bottom of cold water, 
while its body and surface are warm. Its color in the 
region of the Gulf is indigo-blue, so distinct that the 
eye can follow its line of demarkation where it joins 
the common water of the sea. Its surface temperature 
on the coast of the United States is from 75° to 80". 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 353 

Its current, of a speed of four to five miles per hour, 
expends immense power in its course, and forms a body 
of water in tlie latitude of the Carolina coast fully two 
hundred miles wide. Its temperature diminishes very 
gradually, while it moves thousands of leagues, until one 
branch loses itself in Arctic regions, and the other breaks 
on the coast of Europe. 

The sea-bottom, especially near the continents, resem- 
bles the neighboring land, and consists of hills, mountains, 
and valleys, like the earth upon which we live. A practi- 
cal illustration of this fact is found in the soundings taken 
by the officers of our Coast Survey in the Caribbean Sea, 
where a valley was found giving a water-depth of three 
thousand fathoms, twenty-five miles south of Cuba. The 
Cayman Islands, in that neighborhood, are the summits of 
mountains bordering this deep valley at the bottom of the 
sea, which has been found, by a series of soundings, to 
extend over seven hundred miles from between Cuba and 
Jamaica nearly to the Bay of Honduras, with an average 
breadth of eighty miles. Thus the island of Grand Cay- 
man, scarcely twenty feet above sea-level, is said to be a 
mountain-top twenty thousand five hundred and sixty feet 
above the bottom of the submarine valley beside which 
it rises, — an altitude exceeding that of any mountain on 
the North American continent. A little more than five 
miles, or say twenty-seven thousand feet, is the greatest 
depth yet sounded at sea. 

Cuba is the most westerly of the West Indian Islands, 
and compared with the others has nearly twice as much 
superficial extent of territory, being about as large as 
England proper, without the principality of Wales. Its 
greatest length from east to west is very nearly eight 



354 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

hundred miles, its narrowest part is over twenty miles, 
and its average width fifty. The circumference is two 
thousand miles, and it contains over forty thousand square 
miles. 

The nearest port of the island to this continent is 
Matanzas, lying due-south from Cape Sable, Florida, a 
distance of a hundred and thirty miles. Havana is situ- 
ated some sixty miles west of Matanzas, and it is here 
that the island divides the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico, 
whose coast-line measures six thousand miles, finding the 
outlet for its commerce along the shore of Cuba, almost 
within range of the guns in Moro Castle. Lying thus at 
our very door, as it were, this island stands like a sentinel 
guarding the approaches to the Gulf of Mexico, whose 
waters wash the shores of five of the United States, and 
by virtue of the same position barring the entrance of 
the great river, the Mississippi, which drains half the 
continent of North America. So, also, Cuba keeps watch 
and ward over our communication with California by way 
of the Isthmus of Panama. It is not surprising, therefore, 
when we realize the commanding position of the island, 
that so much interest attaches to its ultimate destiny. 

Matanzas is situated in one of the most fertile portions 
of the island, the city covering the picturesque hills by 
which the bay is surrounded. The fortifications are of a 
meagre character and could not withstand a well-directed 
attack for half an hour. The custom house is the most 
prominent building which strikes the eye on approaching 
the city by water. Though built of stone, it is only one 
story in height, and was erected at the commencement 
of the present century. The city is connected with 
Havana by railway, of which there are nearly a thousand 
miles in operation in the island. 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 355 

Club life prevails at Matanzas, as usual at the expense 
of domestic or family ties ; the same may be said of 
Havana, and both cities in this respect are like London. 
It is forbidden to discuss politics in these Cuban clubs, 
the hours being occupied mostly in playing cards, dom- 
inoes, chess, and checkers, for money. Gambling is as 
natural and national in Cuba as in China. Many Chinese 
are seen about the streets and stores of Matanzas, vari- 
ously employed, and usually in a most forlorn and im- 
poverished condition, — poor creatures who have survived 
their "apprenticeship" and are now free. They were 
brought here under the disguise of the Coolie system, 
as it is called, but which was only slavery in another 
form. These Chinese are peaceful, do not drink spirit- 
uous liquors, work hard, never meddle with politics, and 
live on one-half they can earn, so as to save enough to 
pay their passage home to their beloved land. Few suc- 
ceed ; eight-tenths of those imported into the island have 
been not only cheated out of the promised wages, but 
worked to death ! 

The famous afternoon drive and promenade of Matanzas 
was formerly the San Carlos Paseo. It has fine possibil- 
ities, and is lined and beautifully ornamented with thrifty 
Indian laurels. It overlooks the spacious harbor and 
outer bay, but is now entirely neglected and abandoned ; 
even the roadway is green with vegetation, and gullied 
with deep hollows. It is the coolest place in the city at 
the evening hour, but the people have become so poor 
that there are hardly a dozen private vehicles in the city. 
Matanzas, like all the cities of Cuba, is under the shadow 
of depressed business, evidence of which meets one on 
every hand. 



356 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

Havana is a thoroughly representative city, and is the 
centre of the talent, wealth, and population of the island. 
Moro Castle, with its Dahlgren guns peeping out through 
the yellow stones, and its tall lighthouse, stands guard 
over the narrow entrance of the harbor. The battery of 
La Punta, on the opposite shore, answers to the Moro. 
There are also the long range of cannon and barracks on 
the city side, and the massive fortress of the Cabanas 
crowning the hill behind the Moro. All these are deco- 
rated with the yellow flag of Spain, — the banner of gold 
and blood. These numerous and powerful fortifications 
show how important the home government regards this 
island, and yet modern gunnery renders these defences 
comparatively useless. 

The city presents a large extent of public buildings, 
cathedrals, antique and venerable churches. It has been 
declared in its prosperity to be the richest city, for its num- 
ber of square miles, in Christendom, but this cannot be 
truthfully said of it now. There is nothing grand in its 
appearance as we enter the harbor, though Baron Hum- 
boldt pronounced it the gayest and most picturesque sight 
in America. Its architecture is not remarkable, its enor- 
mous prison overshadowing all other public buildings. 
This structure is designed to contain five thousand prison- 
ers at one time. The hills which make up the distant 
background are not sufficiently high to add much to the 
general effect. The few palm-trees which catch the eye 
here and there give an Oriental aspect to the scene, quite 
in harmony with the atmospheric tone of intense sunshine. 

Havana contains numerous institutions of learning, but 
not of a high character. It has a medical and a law school, 
but education is at a low ebb. There is a Royal Seminary 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 357 

for girls, but it is scarcely more than a name. The means 
of obtaining a good education can hardly be said to exist, 
and most of the youth of both sexes belonging to the 
wealthier class are sent to this country for school purposes. 
The city was originally surrounded by a wall, though the 
population has long since extended its dwellings and busi- 
ness structures far into what was once the suburbs. A por- 
tion of the old wall is still extant, crumbling and decayed, 
but it has mostly disappeared. The narrow streets of the 
old town are paved or macadamized, and cross each other 
at right angles ; but in their dimensions they recall those of 
Toledo in Spain, whose Moorish architecture is also fol- 
lowed here. 

The Paseo is the favorite afternoon drive of the citi- 
zens, where the ladies in open carriages and the gentlemen 
on horseback pass and repass each other, gayly saluting, the 
ladies with a coquettish flourish of the fan, and the gentle- 
men with a peculiar wave of the hand. The Alameda, a 
promenade and garden combined, — every Spanish city 
has a spot so designated, — skirts the shore of the harbor 
on the city side, near the south end of Oficios Street, and 
is a favorite resort for promenaders, where a refreshing 
coolness is breathed from off the sea. This Alameda 
might be a continuation of the Neapolitan Chiaja (the 
afternoon resort of Naples), With characteristics quite 
different, still these shores remind us of the Mediterranean, 
Sorrento, Amalfi, and Capri, recalling the shadows which 
daily creep up the heights of San Elmo, and disappear 
with the setting sun behind the orange-groves. 

The cathedral of Havana, on Empedrado Street, is a 
structure of much interest, its rude pillared front of de- 
faced and moss-grown stone plainly telling of the wear of 



358 FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL; OR, 

time. The two lofty towers are hung with many bells 
which daily call to morning and evening prayers, as they 
have done for a hundred years and more. The church is 
not elaborately ornamented, but strikes one as being un- 
usually plain. It contains a few oil paintings of moderate 
merit ; but most important of all is the tomb where the 
ashes of Columbus so long reposed. All that is visible of 
this tomb, which is on the right of the altar, is a marble 
tablet six feet square, upon which, in high relief, is a bust 
of the great discoverer. 

As we view the scene. Military Mass begins. The con- 
gregation is very small, consisting almost exclusively of 
women, who seem to do penance for both sexes in Cuba. 
The military band, which leads the column of infantry, 
marches, playing an operatic air, while turning one side for 
the soldiery to pass on towards the altar. The time-keep- 
ing steps of the men upon the marble floor mingle with 
drum, fife, and organ. Over all, one catches now and then 
the subdued voice of the priest, reciting his prescribed 
part at the altar, where he kneels and reads alternately. 
The boys in white gowns busily swing incense vessels ; the 
tall, flaring candles cast long shadows athwart the high 
altar ; the files of soldiers kneel and rise at the tap of the 
drum ; seen through an atmosphere clouded by the fumes 
of burning incense, all this combines to make up a picture 
which is sure to forcibly impress itself upon the memory. 

It seems unreasonable that, when the generous, fruitful 
soil of Cuba is capable of producing two or three crops of 
vegetation annually, the agricultural interests of the island 
should be so poorly developed. Thousands of acres of 
virgin soil have never been broken. Cuba is capable of 
supporting a population of almost any density ; certainly 



yOURNEYINGS IN MANY LANDS. 359 

five or six millions of people might find goodly homes 
here, and yet the largest estimate of the present number 
of inhabitants gives only a million and a half. When we 
tread the fertile soil and behold the clustering fruits in 
such abundance, — the citron, the star-apple, the perfumed 
pineapple, the luscious banana, and others, — not forget- 
ting the various noble woods which caused Columbus to 
exclaim with pleasure, we are forcibly struck with the 
thought of how much nature, and how little man, has done 
for this " Eden of the Gulf." We long to see it peopled 
by those who can appreciate the gifts of Providence, — 
men willing to do their part in grateful recognition of the 
possibilities so liberally bestowed by Heaven. 

As we go on shipboard to sail for our American home, 
some reflections naturally occur to us. To visit Cuba is 
not merely to pass over a few degrees of latitude ; it is to 
take a step from the nineteenth century back into the 
dark ages. In a climate of tropical luxuriance and endless 
summer, we are in a land of starless political darkness. 
Lying under the lee of a Republic, where every man is a 
sovereign, is a realm where the lives, liberties, and fortunes 
of all are held at the will of a single individual, who ac- 
knowledges no responsibility save to a nominal ruler more 
than three thousand miles away. 

Healthful in climate, varied in productions, and most 
fortunately situated for commerce, there must yet be a 
grand future in store for Cuba. Washed by the Gulf 
Stream on half her border, she has the Mississippi pouring 
out its riches on one side, and the Amazon on the other. 
In such close proximity to the United States, and with so 
obvious a common interest, her place seems naturally to 
be within our own constellation of stars. 



36o FOOT-PRINTS OF TRAVEL. 

But as regards the final destiny of Cuba, tliat question 
will be settled by certain economic laws which are as sure 
in their operation as are those of gravitation. No matter 
what our individual wishes may be in this matter, such 
feelings are as nothing when arraigned against natural 
laws. The commerce of the island is a stronger factor in 
the problem than is mere politics ; it is the active agent 
of civilization all over the world. It is not cannon, but 
ships; not gunpowder, but peaceful freights which set le 
the great questions of mercantile communities. As the 
United States take over ninety per cent of her entire ex- 
ports, towards this country Cuba naturally looks for fellow- 
ship and protection. The world's centre of commercial 
gravity is changing very fast by reason of the rapid devel- 
opment of the United States, and all lands surrounding 
the Union must conform, sooner or later, to the prevailing 
lines of motion. 





»'n^,'j'!r.°r,. CONGRESS 



019 953 568 




